I won't leave you until you want me to
by urNotPERMITTEDtoTOUCH
Summary: it is just my version about how they met. I don't know if it is good, but please read and review
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Song:

Even though

(Me and my dick)

_Wait – don't go_

_There is something I need you to know_

**A/N: **I guess I will use this song once again but later.

Everyone on the starship was getting worried about their lieutenant not leaving this little girl he'd saved. They didn't understand why he was sitting next to her bed now since three days and waited for her to do anything. But she didn't.

She hadn't spoken to anyone but Up had never left his chair; he slept there, he ate there and tried to talk to her but she had never responded.

Up waited for her to tell him to go away, but she didn't. he wasn't even sure if she spoke English.

"Please, lieutenant, you need to leave now," one of the doctors told him but Up just shook his head. "No, I won't leave her," he answered his eyes still fixed on the little Hispanic girl.

The doctor gave him a weird look before he closed the curtain around her bed and left. Up took a glass which was standing next to her and handed it to her. But she didn't take it, she waited until he put it carefully on the sheets before she drank the water. Up noticed that she drank a lot. More than anyone else he had ever known. He had noticed everything she'd done the past three days.

Up wondered what her name was and he also wondered if she was ever going to talk again. He really hoped for it but he was quite sure that this wasn't going to happen. Up had heard her yelling at the robots back at her _quinceañera _but as he brought her back to the ship and she had seen the corpses of her whole family she had fallen silent. And she hadn't spoken since then.

Up wondered what was going on her mind as suddenly his commander appeared. "Up, I want you to leave her now. She isn't going to talk to you and she is in good hands" Up looked at the girl but she was staring at the ceiling. He knew that the commander was right. "You should really take a shower and change your clothes"

Up looked down at his uniform, he hadn't changed since he'd saved her so it was still stained with her blood. He nodded. The commander left and he got up.

Up took one last look at the girl to check if she was alright but she surely wasn't.

But suddenly he felt a tiny, cold hand grabbing his wrist. "_¡Quédate aquí!_" the girl said. Up looked at her slightly confused. He was glad that she talked to him but he didn't understand Spanish at all. She had turned her head slightly towards him.

"Uh ... could you please ... speak English" He wondered how to tell her in Spanish that he didn't understand her but, well, he didn't speak Spanish.

"Don't go," she said her eyes pleading. Her voice was harsh; she hadn't used it for a long time.

"I won't," Up told her and sat down again. "I won't leave you until you want me to" He didn't know why he said that but it seemed to be right.

The girls released his wrist and looked at him. Up realised that it was the first time that she did that. He returned her gaze.

Up studied her features carefully. She would have been quite pretty if it hadn't been for the miserable state she was in.

But it was her eyes that fascinated him the most. They were large and had the same colour as dark chocolate. Somehow Up felt like he wanted some chocolate right now. He had never liked chocolate, though. She had long thick raven hair that was bonded with her own blood and looked pretty frizzy.

"What's your name?" Up asked.

"Taz," she answered. "Yours?"

"Up," he answered.

"What?" Taz asked confused. She didn't understand what he meant.

"My name is Up," he explained and Taz smirked so slightly that Up wasn't even sure if she really did.

"What de hell kind of name is dat? Dat's not your real name, is it?" she asked and he grinned at her.

"No, it's not. Is Taz your real name?" Up regretted that question immediately because her face fell. But then she shook her head. "No, it's not" But Tessa had died the moment the robots had used her as a piñata.

She looked at his features; he looked young even though he had silver hair and his moustache which had the same colour. His eyes had the prettiest blue she had ever seen (Well, she had never met anyone with blue eyes but if she'd his eyes were still the prettiest). It looked just like the ocean. Taz had always loved the ocean. Taz's gaze went back to his silver hair; she didn't think him older than twenty-three. She began to wonder why it was silver.

Up noticed her gaze. "Yeah, being a starship ranger is not the stress free job they try to make it look," he explained.

Taz frowned. She didn't know whom he meant with "they" but she just said "I know. Dey sent my dad of to fight in de robot wars when I was five. Mamá, Pietro and I haven't seen him since then. We don't even know if he is still alive"

Up knew how she felt. He had seen how families parted because they had to fight the robots – he hated it – that was why he became a starship ranger. To end the war.

Taz could see something she considered to be pain flushing through Ups eyes but he didn't say anything, neither did Taz. But they didn't have to, Taz knew that her mother had died. She had seen her on the floor as Up carried her back to the starship.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm sorry I had forgotten to write that I own neither of them they belong to the totally awesome _Team StarKid_. **

**Thanks to _DaisyDoodle_ and _Queen Charlotte the Courageous_ who reviewed this. You really brightened up my day. I know it may not mean that much to other people, but for me it is just so wonderful that someone actually read my story. **

**Well, I will just write that chapter now … But thanks again x3**

**Chapter 1**

Song:

Defying gravity

(Wicked)

_Something has changed within me_

_Something is not the same_

_I'm through with playing _

_By the rules of someone else's game_

After Up had left Taz in the sickbay to have a shower – he had promised to come back – she felt somehow different. He had been by her side for three days and she had grown accustomed to his presence. It was just as natural as breathing to have Up around her. She looked around the room just to find her _quinceañera _dress hanged over a chair carefully.

It was still pink and fluffy but there were red sprinkles which didn't seem to belong there. It was also ripped at several places, but it took Taz a while to figure out that these sprinkles happened to be her blood.

And this realisation was enough for her to feel that something has changed. It was not the fact that her family was dead, neither that she was on a starship with people she didn't know at all and it was not even that she had almost been killed by some evil robots. No, it was something that told her that she couldn't allow herself to be that weak again. That she had to be tough.

Taz felt an odd feeling like she wanted to cry, but she couldn't do this. She couldn't cry.

The curtain opened a little and Up sat down on the chair again. His hair was still wet – he had hurried to come back to Taz as fast as possible.

"How've you done without me?" he asked smirking.

Taz didn't respond until she said: "Why didn't jou throw it away?" She pointed to the dress unable to look at it without bursting into tears.

"I – we thought you may want to keep it." Up answered taken aback by her question.

"I don't," Taz said simply.

Up nodded in respond. Then said: "What should we do with you?"

"What d'jou mean?" Taz asked her guard up.

"Well, when we arrive at the academy we have to put you somewhere where you can be save," he said and gave her a warning look. Somehow he knew that she was about to fall into a rage.

But Taz managed to keep herself calm and just asked: "What about me becoming a starship ranger? Like jou"

Up didn't say anything but she got more and more angry – he could feel her glare – so he decided to say: "You need to be eighteen to join, Taz. But three years that's not such a long time …"

"It is, Up! Where should I live during dis time? Until I'm eighteen. I have no one left and I don't want to go back to Spain! Jou can't expect me to back to de place where my family died and just go on living!" she yelled angrily.

"I know, Taz," Up said and it was the first time that Taz noticed his southern drawl. "But you can't expect them to just take you, ignoring your age …"

She glared daggers at his back as he turned to leave. Up had the feeling that she didn't want him to be around right now.

"Where're jou going?" she said and he heard that her voice had calmed down a little so he turned around. "I thought jou said jou wouldn't leave me?"

Up smiled as he took a seat on the chair again. "Taz, I've seen you fighting three robots on your own. Even many starship rangers who had finished the academy couldn't do this"

Taz smiled slightly but then her eyes turned sad as she said: "It doesn't matter. Everyone died, though"

"Yes, but you did everything you could!" Up said gently, trying to calm her. His hand brushed hers softly and she pulled it away.

"But it was not enough! Dat's why I want to join dat bloody academy! I want to be able to help people and not just let dem die!" she yelled and tried to get herself out of the bed.

Up pushed her back carefully and she screamed: "Don't jou dare to touch me!"

"Taz, calm down, for Fucks sake!" Up said sternly and took her hands.

"Jou are not permitted to touch!" Taz yelled and he started to laugh. Well, as he saw Taz's gaze he stopped immediately.

"Taz, I will help you to join, but just calm down for once!" Up finally gave in, shrugging.

Her eyes were sparkling as she looked up at him. "Thank jou," she whispered before she lay down and fell asleep.

**I'm sorry this is quite short and I don't really like it, but it was kind of a filler chapter, so … **

**Please review what you think of it so far, but be nice, it's my first fanfic and I'm Austrian. **

**I just wanted to use that "You are not permitted to touch" because it's my favourite line of AVPS. **

**Anyways I just wanted to tell anybody and my friends don't know StarKid but I went on holiday in Czech Republic and we went to eat some pizza and the guy who made the pizza looked exactly like Joe Moses. I kind of would have wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to photograph a stranger …**

**Well, please review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reviewing ! **

**I promise the next chapters are going to be more exiting. **

**Well, anyway, here's chapter three. **

**Capter 3**

Song:

I wanna be a starship ranger

(Starship)

_I wanna be a starship ranger_

_I wanna have the things they've got_

_I could be a starship ranger_

Taz coughed badly and refused to get up again. Up and she had been working out in the starship's gym for the last four hours and Taz refused to stop by now. She needed to pass that test to be accepted at the academy and she needed to be good.

"Taz, either you get up now or we'll continue some other day. It's your choice," Up said while holding his hand towards her.

"It doesn't matter. Dey won't accept me either way, Up" Taz responded sadly.

"They will. I told them what you did two weeks ago and they said they would accept you if you pass the test – which you will – and if I help you to keep up with the others – which I will," Up told her, smiling smugly. "And Taz, I'll tell you one thing; it doesn't matter how hard you get knocked down, you always have to get back up. So get back up!"

Taz smiled slightly as she took his hand eventually. He hoisted her to her feet. "_Gracias_, Up," she said. Then hesitated for a moment before she asked: "Dat is where jou got jour name from, isn't it?" Up nodded and Taz continued: "Because jou always got back up" It wasn't even a question but Up nodded, though. He waited for Taz to ask him why he had had to get back up, but she didn't. That was one of those things why Up enjoyed her company that much; she didn't ask to much. That was probably because she didn't want others to ask her to personal questions.

"Maybe I'll tell you my fucking story one day," Up said before he tried to push her onto the floor to break through that awkward silence that was now between them. But somehow Taz remained standing and hit him back.

The two of them fought for a while until Up refused to go on, he had a feeling like that it was not a good idea to push Taz to her limit because her test was tomorrow.

She went to sleep at the sickbay while Up went to his own room. He knew that they would accept Taz and he knew that she was going to be the toughest – son – of – a – bitch – ranger that there's ever been.

He woke up as he heard a soft knock at the door.

"What are you doing here, Taz?" Up asked softly as he opened the door. "You know that you are actually not supposed to be here"

He put his arm around her waist to lead her to his bed to keep her from collapsing onto the floor – she was pretty tired and somehow terrified. "You should better go back to –," but he cut himself up as he realised that she was shaking.

"I know," she said eventually. "But I knew jou were de only one who wouldn't laugh at me. Well, I don't have anyone else her on dis ship and jou're kind of my friend …," she mumbled weakly.

Up looked at her. He knew that she'd always had her guard up when other people were around her, but sometimes when the two of them were alone he could see the real Taz she was trying to hide behind a wall of aggression and anger. And _boy_, he really liked that Taz.

"You wanna watch a movie?" Taz shrugged then nodded eventually. "Which one? I would say `Karate Kid`, you know the goog one the Jackie Chan one, but I don't know if you like it … It's my favourite movie, ya know"

She walked over to his ancient Flat Screen and struggled to put the DVD in. up rushed towards her and took it out of her hands because she looked like she was about to smash something and he really hoped that is wasn't his TV or anything else in here.

"I love dat movie," Taz said as the two of them lay on Up's bed.

She rested her head on his shoulder and he smiled down at her, hoping she couldn't see it.

"I've had a nightmare," Taz said eventually.

Up wasn't quiet sure how he should react to that, she usually didn't want people to pity her. So he just pulled his arms around her and pulled her into him. Up was afraid that he had gotten to far and she was going to punch him, but suddenly he felt Taz's arms around his neck.

"What was it about? The robots"

"Sure. What else?" her voice was sad as she told him that.

"What happened?"

Taz didn't react at first so Up fixed his gaze onto the screen.

"My family got shot by dose _hijos de puta _and jou were dere too. And den jou walked away …" Taz's voice was breaking away at the last words and there was something in it that told him that she was about to burst into tears. But she wouldn't do this.

"I won't leave you until you want me to. Did you forget that?" Up said and took one of her hands. He could feel Taz smiling.

"I'll stay tonight is dat okay?" she said after a few moments.

"I actually never thought you wouldn't," he told her smirking.

Taz closed her eyes and felt Up kissing her forehead before he turned the TV's volume down.

She had never allowed him to be so close to her but somehow it felt right.

"_Gracias_, Up," she said sleepy.

"For what?" Up answered glad that he learned this word in the past two weeks.

"For being my _amigo_"

"You don't have to thank me for being your friend," Up said. He had never thought that she would say something like that.

"I do. Jou're de only friend I've had since … since I don't know. I guess I've never had a friend before," Taz said and closed her eyes.

"Taz -," Up began he wasn't really sure what to say, though, but Taz cut him off.

"Shut up, _idiota_! I need to sleep now. I mean it's my test to be accepted at de academy tomorrow"

"Don't say ya're nervous!" Up called out, chuckling slightly.

"I'm not!" She hit his arm, but not in a really painful way. "Yes, I am! I am so fuckin' nervous!" she murmured and wrapped her arms around his neck again. Up stroke her hair while he waited for her to fall asleep.

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that it was really cold. The second thing he noticed was that his blankets were missing and the third thing was that Taz lay on his bed and was curled up in his blankets. Up tried to get them back, but suddenly Taz rolled over and smashed him onto the floor.

She smiled innocently down at him and asked: "Why are jou laying on the floor?"

Up jumped onto his bed immediately and tried to get them back. Taz laughed – it was the first time he'd ever heard her laughing – and Up wondered why she didn't do that more often – it sounded lovely. But, well, that was exactly what she didn't want to be.

Up looked at his watch. It was 800 so they had arrived at the academy a few minutes ago. "You should get dressed. I guess it's almost time for your test"

But Taz just shrugged. "I have no clothes"

"Oh" Up was pretty sure that she couldn't do the test in her pyjamas which they had given her at the sickbay. He looked around to find something he could give Taz but of course nothing would fit her at all.

"Give me dis," she said, pointing at the G.L.E.E. – T – Shirt he was wearing.

"Why?"

Taz blushed slightly and looked at the floor before she answered: "Because it's jours. And dat's why it'll bring me luck"

Up didn''t quiet understand what she meant, no, he didn't understand it at all, but he took his shirt off and gave it to Taz while he changed into fresh clothes.

Taz couldn't really tell why she wanted to wear his shirt but it smelled like him and somehow that convinced her that she was going to make it.

"_Gracias_," she said. Taz was still wearing the black sweat shorts they had given her, but no – one would have noticed for Up's shirt almost reaching her ankles. She pulled her long black hair back in a pony – tail and said: "Are we going to get breakfast?"

Up nodded and thought about taking her hand (I mean the two of them had spent the night together and had changed in front of each other, so ...) but he decided not to.

The two of them sat on their usual table, but they didn't really talk much, but there was no need to. The last night had helped Up to understand better now and Taz felt alright with letting her guard down – but only in front of Up.

"It's time for you to go now," Up said eventually.

"Jou aren't coming?" Taz asked and started to panic inwardly.

"I'm not allowed to. But I'll come as fast as possible," Up responded.

Taz nodded and he pulled her into a brief hug. Up was pretty sure that she didn't want to hug him in front of everybody. But Taz surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest.

"Good luck, though I'm sure you won't need it," he murmured into Taz's hair but he was sure that she had heard him because she answered: "Oh, I will!"

Then she let go of him and walked of the ship and towards the academy to take her first step in becoming a starship ranger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Omg thanks for reviewing you make me so happy!**

**Here's chapter four. Please review!**

**Chapter 4**

Song:

No way

(AVPS)

_My mind is racing but my heart_

_It beats faster_

_I'm in control commander and master_

Taz wasn't quiet sure if she liked that man who stood in front of her and ten other kids. Well, they weren't really kids they were at least three years older and one oot taller. Taz knew for sure that that all didn't matter because she was going to be better than all of them.

"So, I'm glad that this year so many of you decided to try and join our academy," the man said and Taz couldn't help but laugh about this sarcastically. She wondered how many kids would be at the entire academy when he called ten many. "Oh, you must be Taz. The girl lieutenant Up told me about," he said and seemed not even a little bit annoyed about her laughing.

Taz nodded in response.

"Well, I expect you to do great in that test"

She nodded again and he turned back to the others. "Well, my name is Commander Sean and I'll give you some instructions before you start the test. And now shut up!" he suddenly yelled. Everyone stopped chatting except of Taz who didn't want to have any contact with the other kids. "You need to get into groups of five and you need to come through a parkours It isn't going to be that hard this year because of that incident last year, so …"

"What happened?" asked a blonde, dumb – looking girl.

"Oh, well, uhm … nothing, actually. Three kids were murdered by a killer – robot, but that's not a big deal, so if you would get into groups now …," Commander Sean said slightly annoyed by the concerned kids.

Taz wasn't concerned. If there were any killer – robots she was going to kill _them_. But the thing was she hadn't wanted to talk to the other kids so she had no – one whom she wanted to be in a team with.

Somehow she ended up with some candy – ass called Krayonder, the blonde girl who' s name was February (like the month, but a person), a curly – haired girl with a calculator named Specs and a red – headed guy who was named Brendan and said he was from Ireland.

Taz had no idea how she would come through that parkours with those half – wits.

"What am I supposed to do with jou? Jou know nothing!" she yelled at them and everyone looked at her.

"Don't act like you'd be our leader! You're, like, three years younger! And well, you're not really tall too," February said.

"Yeah, I know dat. But, look, even though I'm so small and young I'm here today!" Taz responded angrily,

"Yeah, because you fucked that Up guy. Everyone knows that that's why you're here," February said smugly.

"What de HELL?" Taz shouted. "So dat's what you think, hu?" she glared at the blonde with hatred.

"No that's what everyone told me"

Taz couldn't believe that this dumb slut dared to talk to her like that.

"Ah, February I guess you should stop now, man," Krayonder said as he noticed Taz's expression. She looked like she was about to kill the girl. Which she actually was.

"Don't call me man! I'm, like, a pretty girl! And my name is February, like the month, but a person!"

Krayonder yelled back, but Taz didn't notice. She was counting to one-hundred. Up had told her to do that to calm herself.

"Thanks," she told him and glared at February angrily. "So, if jou don't mind, I would like to go on with what I wanted to say. Where was I?"

"You said that we know nothing," Specs said helpfully.

"Yeah, right. So jou see dat? We'll need to come through that as one, don't we?"

"And what if we get killed, man?" Krayonder cried.

"Well, dat would be bad, but we won't"

"I don't even know why he would want to fuck you, I mean you're not even pretty," February said.

"Shut de hell up! Just shut your bloody mouth and I hope you get killed in here!" Taz shouted and turned back to the others.

"So, who d'jou suggest to be our leader me or dat stupid slut over there?" She asked them while pointing over to February.

The others decided that Taz would unquestionably be the better choice and they planned how to manage this task. They decided that Krayonder would go first, then Taz, Brandon, February and Specs.

"And what about that pond, man? There could be snakes in it!" he cried as he went to the beginning of the parkours. The others groaned; he was such a coward.

Taz waited for him to finish. She was annoyed because it took him longer than half an hour. Krayonder was supposed to wait at the other side for his team members to finish and Taz sighed in relief as he finally appeared on one of the view screens. He looked pretty terrified but she didn't care because now it was her turn.

It was no problem at all to run – she'd always run rather than walked. But when she stepped into the cave where they were supposed to fight something, she stopped. There wasn't nothing inside. But suddenly Taz saw a zapper laying on the floor. She grabbed it and realised that there was a robot.

And this robot looked exactly like the ones who'd killed her family. Taz raised her zapper and pointed it at the robot. "Jou're gonna die, _hijo de puta_!" she screamed and set her zapper to 'pew' like she had seen Up doing that.

"No, you will die puny hu – man," it said mechanically. "Just like your pathetic family"

Taz didn't know how the robot could know about this, but it was enough for her to let her zapper drop onto the floor.

"Look at you now you are going to cry, aren't you?" it laughed mechanically and Taz wouldn't have been able to say that it was a laughter if she hadn't heard it before.

"No! No I'm not gonna cry!" Taz yelled and shot the robot. It was still laughing but Taz didn't care. She exited the cave and swam through the pond. There weren't any snakes in it.

She didn't even mind as Krayonder embraced her and yelled: "You're still alive, man! And you were, like, super – fast, man! You're pretty tough for a chick, Taz!"

Taz only did mind as he was still holding her and shouted sentences that all ended with 'man' in her ear. She sat down on a bench and looked at the screens to watch the others of her team to complete the task.

"Taz! Taz! Girl, I was wrong! You're, like, totally awesome!" February squealed as she hugged Taz tightly.

"_Gracias_," Taz said and sat down at the bench again. February looked confused.

Commander Sean came to them as the second group had finished. "So, I'll tell you, who is going to study at our academy this year"

Taz eyes widened as she saw Up standing besides him and smiling brightly at her. _Did that mean …? _

Commander Sean wrote some names at a white – board and stopped in confusion as he was about to write down hers. "I'm sorry, miss, but there is just your first name. What about your second name?"

Taz didn't hesitate as she answered: "I don't have one"

The Commander nodded and wrote her name down on the white – board.

"Well, I'll totally come back next year again," February said. And then she told everybody who stood around her that this was the third time that she had failed the exam.

But the only thing that Taz could focus on was Up's pride smile. She went over to him and he embraced her. As he lifted her up in the air he yelled cheerfully: "You've made it! I'm so fuckin' proud of you!"

Taz couldn't help but laugh at his expression. Up looked like it'd been him who had passed the test.

"I know! Thank jou, Up!"

Taz hadn't been that happy for a long time. It felt so good that she had made it and it felt even better to know that Up was proud of her.

**I don't own anything here. Not even Brendan. He's inspired by a song called "Ireland" from the musical "Legally blonde". Please tell me what you think. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for reviewing you guys are totally awesome! Please keep on reviewing that really makes my day!

Sorry for uploading so late but there was a thunderstorm going on and I couldn't use the computer.

I own no – one even if I'd loved to.

Chapter 5

Song

On my own

(Les Miserables)

On my own pretending he's beside me

All alone I walk with him till morning

The first days at the academy were hard for Taz. She had known that it was going to be tough but she had thought that she was tougher. It was not the first time that Up had heard her talking about suicide, but somehow he'd always laughed. He didn't think that she was serious. And Taz wasn't.

But it was hard for her to keep up with guys twice her height and at least three years older. She was doing well but she wasn't better than them. Well, in combat training she was but when it came to stuff like calculus Taz wasn't even as good as the worst of the others.

Up had tried to convince her that she only had to learn it. But that was not the truth. Taz just didn't understand calculus, but he kept on saying "you only have to study it".

Taz yelled in anger as she threw her calculus book against the door. Up who had knocked opened it just a second later.

"What's wrong?" he asked calmly. He didn't have to ask he knew exactly what was wrong.

"It's dat fuckin' calculus! I'll never learn dat in my life!" Taz yelled and Up took the book from the floor.

"You will. Ya just have to –" Up began but she cut him off.

"No! It's nothing dat jou can study. If jou don't understand it jou better shouldn't be here," Taz said using the words which her calculus teacher had told her. "And if jou say dat one more time I'll eat jou!"

"Really?" Up responded smirking brightly. He knew that that was not what she had wanted to say.

"Wha –," Taz began until she noticed what she'd said. She blushed slightly as she said: "No, idiota 'course not"

She hit him with the book he'd handed her over. Up laughed and said: "I was sure you didn't"

Taz looked like she was about to hit him once more, but then she just laughed and said: "I'm hungry, jou know"

"I know. You always are," Up told her and opened the book. "It's not that hard. I can explain it to you if ya want me to"

"'Course I want jou to," Taz said smiling brightly. Up knew that no – one in the entire academy had ever seen her laughing or even smiling – the trainers had told him. He knew that they were concerned about her, but he had told them that she just didn't like strangers.

Up began to explain that calculus – shit to her but she still didn't understand it. The two of them spent more than three hours with calculus – until Taz couldn't suppress a yawn. She'd been yawning all through the whole procedure because of boredom but Up could see in her eyes that she was tired now.

"You should –," he began but Taz cut him off. Up liked that somehow because no – one else ever dared to do so.

"No, I think I'll stay tonight, idiota," she just said and smiled at him.

"Right. You said you're hungry?" Up said. "Do you want a delicious Red Vines?"

Taz had never heard of that before. She nodded, though.

She'd fallen asleep in his arms after she'd brushed her teeth and had had a shower in his bathroom. Taz had told him that she didn't want to share a room and a bathroom with five disgusting kids. Up didn't understand why she wanted to share a bathroom with him and even to sleep in his bed, but he didn't bother to ask her right now. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Almost innocent like the girl she'd used to be before the robots destroyed her party.

As Taz's eyelids flickered and she mumbled something in Spanish Up couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming about.

Suddenly her eyes shot open and she woke up, startled.

"What's wrong?" Up asked gently.

"I – I thought I just heard … doesn't matter," Taz said confused.

"Do you always dream in Spanish?" he asked to divert her from her dream. No matter what it was it didn't seem to be very pleasant.

"I … it's de language I always talked in, I always read in, I always think in … so, yeah, guess I do," Taz answered after a little while.

"So I speak Spanish too?"

Taz didn't response first and Up thought it was a stupid question why should she tell him what she dreamed about him. "As if I would dream about jou"

Yes, it was stupid to ask her this. But he suddenly felt Taz caressing his cheek. "Yeah, jou do. It's funny to wake up and hear dat jou don't talk like dat at all" She laughed slightly, but Up couldn't deny a feeling that there was something she didn't want to tell him.

"Go back to sleep, Tazzie," he said softly into her hair.

"What d'jou call me?" she asked dangerously.

"Just sleep"

It was strange that her presence was so common to him even though he'd met her only a few weeks ago. But she'd slept in his bed since she had started to go to the academy. Up knew that Taz didn't like other people, but she had to start to look for friends because he had no idea what she was going to do if he wasn't there.

The G.L.E.E was looking for someone they could send out on a mission and they had agreed to let him stay at the academy until Taz had finished her first year but he knew that she would still be friendless. She didn't bother and neither did Up, but he was just concerned that she would have no – one to hold on to if he was gone. Taz had told him that she didn't want to have any friends, but he was quiet sure that she would change her mind if he couldn't be there any more.

Up kissed her forehead slightly and waited for himself to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, Thank you for reviewing it makes me feel so happy! Sorry for updating so late, but I got my ears pierced (I've got three earrings in each ear if anybody wanted to know that …) and I came home just a few minutes ago. And I didn't really know what to write so I hope you like it. Please tell me what you think. **

**Chapter 6**

Song

Kick it up a notch

(Starship)

_What I see right there is a prisoner_

_Who's sitting on top of the key_

"Have you ever used a blow – dryer before, little girl?" the black haired man asked Taz as he handed her a zapper. She didn't quite understand why Commander Paul asked her that, but she just nodded. "Good. So, when one of these robots here," he pointed over to two robots with which the students had to fight, "You just pretend to blow – dry _it's _hair. You just have to switch it to 'pew' and don't blow – dry _your_ hair"

Taz was staring at the Commander with astonishment.

"How's she supposed to do that, man? That thing doesn't even have hair, man!" There was no need for her to turn around; Taz knew that it was Krayonder who said that. He always asked the dumbest questions, but Commander Paul used to treat her like she was the dumbest person in this class.

Up had told her that he was a racist, but Taz wasn't quite sure if that was the only reason.

"Hey, girl, do you actually listen to me?" he asked in an annoyingly slow tune as if she wouldn't understand him if he would speak in a normal speed.

"No," Taz responded simply.

"I just said that a zapper is a gun with which you can shoot stuff," Commander Paul said and looked into the crowd as if they were too stupid to even handle a gun.

Taz looked around her classmates and she knew that most of them were to stupid to even handle a gun.

"And now, little girl, I'll show you how to handle this 'blow – dryer'," Commander Paul said as he walked over to her.

"Oh dead – goddamnit! I've used a fuckin' zapper before, _idiota_!"

Commander had told her to leave the class after she'd gotten angry and had thrown things at him. Taz was as angry as she hadn't been for a long time. She didn't know where Up was but she needed to find him because he was the only one who could calm her down. Actually Taz didn't want to calm down, but she knew that she could be expelled if she would hurt anyone else.

"Taz?" she suddenly heard Up's surprised voice. He came out of the bathroom as she sat down on his bed. "I thought you were at the academy?"

"I was," Taz responded as he sat down besides her. "But dat _cabrón_Paul told me to leave"

"What did ya do?" Up asked concerned.

"He was so fuckin' annoying -," Taz started, but he cut her off.

"What exactly did ya do?"

"I – nothing. He just hates me. And I don't know why," she said. She didn't want to tell Up that she had freaked out.

"What about watching 'The Karate Kid' today?" he asked, eventually.

"Fine with me," Taz responded.

"In your room?"

"Wha – No! I don't want to stay with dese _idiotas_!" She yelled and threw a pillow at Up's head.

"No. we'll either stay at your room or we won't watch the movie," Up said sternly and Taz gave in. It would still be worse to spend the night without Up.

Taz was getting annoyed about the weird looks the others gave them. And as they also started chatting – probably about her and Up – she couldn't help but leave her comfortable position in his arms and hit one of them.

He looked like he was about to burst in tears, but the others shut up. Taz lay back down and started to focus onto the movie again.

"Is he, like, her boyfriend?"

"No way, he's, like, hundred years older, man!"

"No, he's not my boyfriend, _idiota_!" Taz shouted while she rushed over to Brendan and Krayonder.

"But you want him to be?" Brendan asked with a smug smile.

Taz started to shout at them in Spanish and punched them after every word she said.

"Seven years," Up said weakly as he got up to pull Taz away. Well, if she was always acting like this she'd never be able to make friends.

Taz just laughed as he told her what he thought. "I don't need friends. I've got jou and you're de only one dat I need, Up"

"Yeah, Taz, but what if I'm not here?" Up said and saw how her tiny smile faded away.

"But jou promised –," she said dangerously.

"I know, but – doesn't matter," Up ended. He didn't want to see her sad.

Taz didn't respond. She curled up towards him and closed her eyes. "Jou know, Up, next time we'll better go to jour room, okay?" she mumbled sleepy.

"Yeah, we should better to that," Up said gently and kissed her forehead. It was strange; he always did that. It had somehow become a habit to him.

He felt Taz resting her head on the side of his neck and he knew that her roommates were still staring at them, but Up didn't care. He turned off the TV and listened to her deep breathing until he fell asleep.

**I own nobody… I don't know why I always end my chapters with people to fall asleep, but somehow I feel like I couldn't stop writing if I didn't. **

**Well, my ears are still hurting, so please keep on reviewing! You are totally awesome. **


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you all for reviewing! And I also have to thank you for wishing that my ears stop hurting. :DD.

Please don't stop reviewing! I love you guys.

Disclaimer: I own no – one, but I actually think that you never thought so, because if I would own them I wouldn't have to write this and they would be together by now.

Chapter 6

Song:

Life

(Starship)

It's a big, big universe. So many dimensions and unanswered questions.

Not to mention life

It was Taz's second month at the academy. She still refused to spend more time than necessary with her roommates, but she had started to talk to them. Up had forced them to be nice to her – he'd promised them some money if they would make friends with Taz.

But she had started to kinda like Specs. Taz thought it was funny that everything she said sounded clever even though the others avoided her because of that. Specs didn't mind but she seemed pleasant that she had at least one person around her who tried to understand what she'd said.

"Could jou please shut up for once?" Taz interrupted one of Spec's speeches about how similar robots were to humans as they were sitting in the shade of a tree in front of the academy. Specs had started to read a lot about this topic and even though Taz had tried to understand what her friend had said she couldn't remember even a single word.

"I'm sorry," Specs responded quickly and shut up.

She knew that Taz was in a bad mood since a few days – well, even worse than usual – but she didn't know what was bothering her. Someone sat down besides the two of them.

"Go away," Taz muttered, not even looking up from the bug which she was staring at.

"Taz?" Up said, slightly confused. She recognised his voice immediately and looked at him.

"What?" Taz responded, dangerously.

"What's wrong?" Up asked softly and took her hand, but she shoved his away.

Specs looked at the two of them and decided that it would be better to go. She got up and hurried towards her room.

Taz hadn't even recognised that she was gone. "Nothings wrong. I'm perfectly fine"

"Ya can't lie to me, Tazzie. I know ya better than that," Up said with a slight smirk.

Taz didn't even notice that he'd called her 'Tazzie' because otherwise she would have probably punched him. Up wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she buried her face in his chest. "It's been two moths since –"

Since her quincheanera. There was no need for her to finish that sentence for Up knew exactly what she meant.

"I know how ya feel," he said gently.

"No. No jou don't. I saw my family getting murdered by some hijos de puta robots! On de day which should have been de best of my life!" Taz yelled and looked into his eyes. They were so beautiful and … NO! She shook her head violently.

Up was confused. He had seen something he couldn't quite name flushing through Taz's eyes. It had made them slightly bigger as if she'd just realised something. But then she shook her head and the anger turned back. Somehow Up couldn't concentrate on anything but her beautiful eyes.

"It is just so unfair dat dey had to die while I can be here with jou and become a Starship Ranger. Dey could have lived if jou'd come earlier, Up!" she continued. Up knew that she didn't blame him for that. It was just that she needed someone to blame for it. He was glad that Taz didn't blame herself and he wasn't going to complain.

"I'm sorry, Taz"

"Jou should be! Jou don't even know how it feels!" Taz yelled and got up.

"I do," Up responded while he got up too. "I'm an orphan, too. My family died when I was sixteen. They were murdered by robots, too. And the Starship Rangers found me. And they told me to always get back up. And that's what I did. And that's what you should do too, Taz"

He grabbed her wrists and forced her to face him. "I even tried to kill myself as I couldn't take it anymore, because I had no – one to hold on to. But you have, Taz"

Taz looked shocked as he said that, but she still didn't respond.

"You have me, Taz. And I'll never leave you," Up said as she finally looked at him.

"Lo siento, Up," Taz said softly and he pulled her in a tight embrace.

But suddenly there was a loud BANG and people began to scream. A beam of light flushed through the academy.

"What's going on?" Taz asked as far from fear as always.

"Robots," Up said calmly. He knew exactly what was going on – it wasn't the first time that the robots tried to attack the academy.

"Robots?" Taz asked aghast.

Up nodded and grabbed her tiny hand in his huge one. "We need zappers," he told her and was really confused that she wasn't scared. But he had never seen her scared so it actually was not a surprise.

Taz nodded and took him to the gym where they always got their zappers from at school. She handed Up one and took one, too.

"Taz, don't ya think you should stay here?" Up asked as gently as he could.

"No. No I don't think so. I'll come with jou and kick dose robotas ass!" Taz yelled and grabbed his wrist. "Don't force me to stay here while jou go and fight de robots. Please let me come with jou, Up," she said softly, almost impossible to hear, but Up heard her.

"But you would be save here. We could hide you so they will never find you. I don't want ya to die, Taz," he said and stroke the hair out of her face.

"And I don't want jou to die, Up. Dat's why I want to come with jou – to help jou," she whispered and put her hand on his which was still in her hair.

"Taz … Please I don't want ya to get hurt. Please stay her, I beg you," Up said softly.

Taz didn't respond, but then she heard another scream and nodded slightly. He thought he'd seen tears in her eyes, but that must have been an imagination.

"I won't get hurt," Up said as he bent down and kissed her forehead. He stormed out of the room and Taz was all alone.

She sat down and hugged her knees. Taz had never felt so terrible – she was scared as hell. But she wasn't scared of the possibility that the robots could find and kill her, Taz was only scared that they would kill Up. She'd never cared for anyone that much – not even for her family for crying out loud.

Every scream she heard startled her until she realised that it was not Up's voice. Taz took her zapper and hugged it tightly. She felt like a little kid which waited for his parents to come home. Only that her parents were dead and she didn't think of Up as a father, which would have been really weird for him being just seven years older.

But suddenly Taz heard a scream and there were no doubts that it was Up's. She got up and stormed out of the gym.

Up was fighting a robot when he heard steps coming closer. He didn't even have to look to know that it was Taz. The robot noticed that Up wasn't that concentrated on fighting anymore it shot a laser beam at him. He dropped to the floor, but he was still alive and looking for his zapper. Taz rushed at the robot and shot at it widely. It punched her in the stomach and she coughed up some blood, but she didn't mind.

Up had found his zapper and got up carefully. He shot the robot, but I managed to shot him, too. Taz didn't think anymore. She grabbed her zapper and hit the robot. Taz didn't know why she did that, but she didn't know how to use a zapper anymore. The robot seemed to be confused and it said something like "Foolish hu – man" before it didn't move anymore. It's red – beam eyes darkened and it dropped onto the floor.

Taz hurried towards Up who was lying onto the floor and seemed pretty much dead. She had never paid attention in first aid even though Up had told her to do so. Now Taz wished she had done that.

She rested her head on Up's chest and she cried out in relieve as she felt his heart beating slowly.

oooOOOooo

As Up opened his eyes he wondered where he was. He felt like he needed to throw up, but he didn't want to get up. Up looked around and saw Taz sleeping in a chair next to his bed.

He was at the academy's sickbay and she'd stayed with him just like he'd done as she had been in here. Up reached out one hand and touched hers gently.

Taz woke up, looking startled. Up smiled slightly as he looked at her, she looked ready to kill somebody. Taz glared around the room until she realised that Up had woken up. For some reason she tried to hide her happiness for him being alright.

"Ya stayed here," he said softly and Taz could see him smiling slightly.

"I just did what jou've done too," she growled. Suddenly she realised that Up was still holding her hand and it felt strange – in a good way.

"So you'll stay too as long as I want you to?" he asked weakly and smirked slightly. Taz rolled her eyes.

Up tried to sit up, but it hurt him. "Did the doctor tell ya when I'll be alright again?" he asked under his breath.

"Oh, don't be so soft, idiota!" Taz replied as she left her chair to lie down besides him. "Jou can leave here tomorrow, Up," she whispered in his ear as Up wrapped his arms around her petite frame.

"Ya saved my life, Taz. D'ya know that?" He said softly.

"I just did what jou would have done, too. And by de way, jou already saved my life once," Taz replied casually.

"I owe ya my life"

"And so do I. So I guess we're quits," Taz said. She didn't want him to know how much this all bothered her. She wanted Up to think that she was strong enough to save him from a robot without much fuss. And Taz also wanted him to be proud of her.

"I – no, no we aren't! You are a hero!"

"Up, look, if I would be a hero then jou wouldn't even be here. I'm just …" She cut herself up. Taz didn't want to tell him why she really had come.

"Have I ever told ya that you are the only person in my live that I care about?" Up asked softly.

"And so do I. Dat was why I saved jou," Taz replied.

She wrapped her arms around Up's waist and buried her face in his chest.

It was strange that her presence comforted him so much. He'd never had this feeling around another person before. But Taz had changed his whole life. Up had always been the one who punched people for no reason or who shouted at people who didn't even look at him. But now he had Taz who did that and he was the one who had to calm her down. And she was the first person whom he'd ever told his story.

Up listened to her steady breathing until he fell asleep.

I actually really don't know why I do that. I just got a feeling like that chapter is not complete if they don't fall asleep at the end.

Please, please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you sooo much for reviewing! Please review :)

Chapter 8

Song

I don't know how to love him

(Jesus Christ Superstar)

I don't know how to take this,

I don't see why he moves me

Up had been looking for Taz since he'd realised that she was neither at the library nor in his room.

"Where's Taz?" he asked that girl with which Taz sometimes hung out, but he had forgotten her name.

"I don't know I haven't seen her the whole day," she replied.

Up nodded and hurried away. He had now clue where to look for Taz, but he knew that she had a problem.

As he opened the door to his room, he heard a strange noise coming out of his bathroom.

"Taz?" he asked carefully while he opened the door quietly. Taz sat in his bathtub. She was wearing clothes and was holding a bottle in her hands. "What ya doin' here?"

"Go away!" she responded and Up could tell that she was pretty much drunk.

"What ya doin' here, Taz?" he asked again and walked over to her to pull her out of the bathtub.

"Let go!" she said dizzily and grabbed the shower, "No! Up, let's … let's just stay here"

Up nodded slightly and put her back into the bathtub. "But give me that", he said while he grabbed the bottle and threw it out of the window.

Up sat down next to the bathtub and looked at Taz. "What's wrong?"

"It's my birthday today, jou know," she said before she began to sing absentmindedly.

"Oh, shit! I didn't think of that, I'm so sorry, Taz!" Up said softly, while he began to brush her hair.

"Oh, doesn't matter," Taz said happily, turned around kissed his nose.

"And ya just decided to go into my bathroom and get drunk?" he asked. Up didn't understand why she'd gone to his bathroom.

"Yeah. And I wanted to take a bath," she said, still smiling.

"In your clothes?"

"Jou want me to take dem off?" Taz asked and was about to take her clothes off as Up shouted: "No! Taz, stop that!"

Taz looked confused, before she wrapped her arms around his neck and bend down to kiss him.

"Taz! Stop it! Get out of here now!" Up shouted.

She tried to get out of the bathtub, but he had to carry her.

"Could jou please stop here and let me down?" Taz asked.

Up put her to her feet, she walked over to the toilet and threw up. He hurried over to her and grabbed her hand.

oooOOOooo

Taz had fallen asleep in his bed. Up hoped that she had learned her lesson and wouldn't touch any alcohol any more.

She stirred slightly and opened her eyes. "Jou're still here," Taz said confused.

"Of course, ya think I would leave ya alone while ya drunk?" Up said and stroke the hair out of her face.

Taz didn't respond, but she smiled a little.

"I'm sorry dat I tried to kiss jou, Up. Lo siento, really, I don't know why I did that," she said eventually.

"Ya were drunk. It's not your fault" Taz smiled again and Up continued, "You're funny, when ya drunk, did ya know that?"

"Oh, shut up, idiota," she growled.

"I want to give ya something for your birthday," Up said.

"I don't want jou to give me something," Taz replied.

"But I do. So, we'll go on vacation in summer! To celebrate your first year at the academy and shit!" he called out cheerfully.

"No!"

"Yes! And it's gonna be totally awesome!" Up yelled, laughing.

"No! No, Up, I don't want to go on a vacation!" Taz whined, but she was also smiling.

"Yes, you do! And I know exactly where we're going to go!"

Taz rolled her eyes and muttered Spanish words. Up was quite sure that it were insults even though he didn't understand a single word.

"I knew you would be happy about it!" he said while he ruffled her hair, "And now go back to sleep. I just wanted to inform ya about that, because I just talked to Commander Sean and he said it would be alright"

Taz groaned, rolled her eyes and lay back down. Up smiled as her annoyed expression turned softer and her breathing became deeper.

I'm sorry, that this chapter is so short. I didn't really like it, it's just that this is going to be important later. Please review and I promise that the next chapter is going to get better.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you for reviewing and happy birthday to almostlover – hoplessdream, by the way!

Chapter 9

Song

Granger Danger

(A very Potter Musical)

Here I am face – to – face with a situation

I'd never thought I'd ever see strange

Taz had been busy with studying for her exams lately. She was about to finish her first year at the academy and was in a worse mood than usual.

No – one dared to come near her – not even Specs – but Up didn't care.

"Go away," Taz muttered as he sat down besides her, as she was sitting in his room on the floor and was studying German.

"You're in my room, Tazzie. Where am I supposed to go?" Up replied calmly.

"Uh, Pigfarts?" she said. She'd just learned about Pigfarts and was annoyed as hell that something like that existed.

"I can't go to Pigfarts. It's on Mars!" he answered and Taz fixed her gaze onto the German book again.

"Then just go and take a shower or something," she said angrily.

"Why should I take a shower?" Up asked and grinned at her widely.

"Because jou stink," Taz replied and he gave her a dazzling smile.

"Oh, right. I was just about to ask ya if you need help, but have it your way," Up said and pretended to get up.

"No! Lo siento, Up," she said quickly and grabbed his wrist. "Stay here!"

"Well, I thought I would stink? And you surely don't want to smell that the whole time, do ya?" he replied and tried to hide his smile as Taz groaned slightly.

"I would love to have jour stinking body here if jou just help me with dat shit," she muttered.

Up chuckled slightly as he sat down again.

"Why do I need dat shit?" Taz complained, "It's not dat I ever wanted to go to Germany or something"

"I know, Taz, but ya need to learn some foreign languages if ya want to graduate at the academy?" Up said.

"I wish I'd already finished de academy," she said annoyed.

"No, you don't. Because if you had you couldn't look forward to our vacation any more!" he said cheerfully.

"I don't care about jour stupid vacation! And I don't care about de stupid academy!" Taz yelled and got up. She took her book, looked at it as if she was thinking about something and then she threw it at Up before she left the room.

Up knew that it wasn't his fault and he knew that she was going to calm down anyways. She always had.

oooOOOooo

Of course he was right. When Up was about to fall asleep, he heard a knock at the door.

"Up?" Taz asked.

"Yeah, I'm here, come in!" he replied sleepy.

She opened the door and came in.

"Up, I'm sorry," Taz whispered as she crawled besides him into his bed.

"I know you are," Up replied as he wrapped his arms around her.

"No, I mean I threw a book at you. I should be nicer to jou, I mean jou're my only friend – except of Specs," she mumbled.

For a brief moment, Up wondered if she was drunk. But then he decided that it was just the stress because of her last exam tomorrow.

"You are not a nice person, I know that, Taz," he replied,"Oh, and by the way, it's still hurting"

She chuckled slightly and kissed his forehead. "Better?"

"Not quite," he said while faking a painful expression.

"Oh, jou're so soft!" Taz said and rested her head on his chest.

"I'm soft? Never!" Up called out while she was laughing at him.

Taz didn't say anything and after a few minutes he said: "Tomorrow's your last day of school. And next year you'll send out on missions"

"If I graduate," Taz muttered. "And I'll still be at dis fuckin' school. And I'll still have to be around dese cabrons. And jou won't be here"

"Yeah, but you can go on missions. And I talked to Commander Sean; he said you'll get assigned onto our ship if your allowed to go on a mission," Up said gleefully.

"Shut up, idiota" Taz growled and Up knew that it meant 'thank you'.

"Yeah, I love ya, too," he chuckled until he realised what'd said. But maybe she hadn't heard it. Or she thought it was a joke – it was a joke, wasn't it?

Taz laughed softly and rested her head onto the side of his neck. Up kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. It was just like always, but somehow it wasn't. Something had changed.

oooOOOooo

"Get up, idiota!" Taz yelled into his ear. Up was so surprised that he almost fell out of the bed. "It's my graduation – day!"

Up looked onto his alarm – clock. It was 1000.

"I just had my last exam!" she cheered and Up hadn't seen her that happy in weeks.

He got up and saw that she was already wearing a blue gown and a blue hat. It looked really good on her.

"Suits ya," Up said while he went around to look for something that he could wear at a graduation ceremony. He hadn't been to one since his own and he had been wearing this blue gown, too.

Taz slapped his arm and laughed. "Shut up, idiota" She took her bag and handed him something over. "Commander Sean told me to give jou dat"

It was a black suit. "Oh, no, he's not actually expecting me to wear this!" Up called out.

"Yeah, dat was what I said as I saw dis" She looked at her gown in disgust, "But I bet jou look great in dat!"

Up put on his suit and turned to Taz who was brushing her hair.

"You ready to go?" he said.

Taz nodded and took his hand. She felt like she was about to throw up; she was so nervous.

oooOOOooo

Commander Sean called out the names of the kids who had graduated and handed them certificate that showed that they had graduated the academy.

As he called her name Taz almost tripped over her gown. It was more than one foot to long for her.

Taz ran downstage and allowed Specs to hug her. Specs was top of the class except of everything that had something to do with sports.

"Guess what happened!" she squeezed into Taz's ear.

"I don't know!"

"Krayonder asked me to go to the dance with him!"

"Wow, dat's great – wait – dere's a dance?" she replied shocked.

"Yeah! And I've got a date!"

Taz grinned over to Krayonder who looked rather sheepish.

"Dat's great, Specs, but –," she began, but Specs cut her off.

"Don't worry, Taz, I'm sure someone's going to ask you out!" she replied. She obliviously didn't know what Taz had wanted to say.

She turned around, without even listening to what Specs yelled behind her and looked for Up.

Up saw Taz walking towards him. She'd never looked more beautiful. Her eyes were sparkling and she was holding her certificate so tightly as if it would disappear as soon as she let go. Taz wrapped her arms around his neck and Up lifted her up and swung her around.

"I made it, Up! I made it! I'm a Starship Ranger! I'm an Ensign, right?" she yelled in a voice that Up had never heard her using before.

"I know!" he replied and he was so proud of her.

Taz just laughed as he told her that. "Up, did jou know dat dere is a dance?"

"Yeah, of course I did. I graduated the academy, too," Up replied. He didn't know what she was trying to say.

"Why didn't jou tell me?"

"Because I thought you hate dancing. And dresses. And people!" he answered, "Do you want to go to that dance?"

"I don't know. It's just, it's de last day of school and so on … I dunno … I guess I have to …," Taz mumbled. She didn't really know what she was talking about and as she looked at Up she saw that he was looking at something behind her.

Taz turned around and saw a boy who was called Junior and who was the son of the head of the G.L.E.E.

"What do jou want?" she said.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about that dance and I was wondering if you would want to go there with me," Junior said.

Taz looked at Up and there was something in her eyes that made him feel strange.

"Uhm … sure, I suppose," she replied while she was still looking at Up.

Taz's eyes were pleading with him and Up wondered if she had wanted him to ask her out to the dance. But that was surely just an imagination. It was not that he didn't want to go to the dance with her, he really wanted that, it was just Up didn't think that she wanted him to go with her.

Why did he feel so strange about Taz all of a sudden?

Why did it hurt him as he saw her smiling at this bastard? He could see that this smile wasn't real, but it still hurt, though.

They didn't fall asleep at the end of this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed this or made it a favourite! You are all so awesome and I'm so happy about every single review!

Chapter 10

Song

Granger Danger

(A very Potter Musical)

How a dress can take a mess

And make her nothing less than beautiful to me

"Guess who's here!" squeezed an annoyingly familiar voice as Specs and Taz entered their room. Specs grabbed her friend's wrist because Taz was about to run away.

"What's she doing here?" Taz hissed towards Specs who shrugged.

February was sitting on one of the tiny beds. "I've finally passed my test and they allowed me to come earlier so that I can help my best friends to get ready for their dance!"

"Best friends?" Taz mouthed and Specs shrugged again.

"I've got two lovely dresses for the two of you!" February said with an annoying giggle while she hugged the two other girls tightly.

And with that she pulled out two dresses and loads of make – up.

oooOOOooo

Up didn't know what to think anymore. He was so confused that it made him feel so strange that Taz was going to that fucking dance with this fucking bastard Junior.

Up got up from his bed and hit the wall. He knew that he had to go to that dance; he had to talk to Commander Sean. But he also knew that he couldn't bear to see Taz with Junior. Up opened the door and walked to the dancehall; there were already several students in it. He searched through the hall with his eyes – Taz was not there.

"Up, I'm glad you came," Commander Sean said and led Up to a table.

"So, what is it you wanna talk about, sir?" Up said as he sat down.

Commander Sean started to talk about something, but Up didn't listen anymore because in this moment Taz and Junior came down the stairs.

She wore a beautiful dark – red dress; black stilettos and her hair was tied back, but she didn't seem very comfortable with it. Up noticed angrily that he was not the only – one who was looking at her. Junior smiled at her, but she was staring at something no – one else could see.

oooOOOooo

Junior had tried to talk to her the whole evening. It was bad enough to dance with him, but Taz hadn't thought that she had to talk to him.

"Taz?" he asked and she had loved to punch him. But his dad was the head of the whole Galactic League what meant that he could get her fired before she'd even gone onto her first mission.

"Yeah?" Taz replied, annoyed.

"You wanna dance?"

Taz didn't respond. She was looking at Up who was returning her gaze. He seemed angry and Taz didn't understand why.

"Yes," she said eventually and forced herself to look at Junior.

He grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor. He was a … decent dancer, to say the least.

oooOOOooo

Up had left his seat to get himself something to drink.

"Hey," he heard Taz's voice behind him.

"Hey. How's ya Date with Junior going?" Up replied without even turning around.

"Oh. Fine, I suppose," Taz said.

Up felt her hand brushing his, but he pulled it away.

"Up, is something wrong?" Taz asked softly.

"Just go back to 'Hunior'!" Up said with a pathetic adaptation of her accent.

"Jou know what? Maybe I will!" she replied angrily and walked away.

Up turned around just in time to see her grabbing Junior's hands and dragging him towards the dance floor.

That was enough for Up; he left the dance.

oooOOOooo

Just after Taz had realised that Up had gone, she said good-bye to Junior and left, too.

She didn't want to go back to her room, she didn't want to know what Specs and Krayonder were doing there. So Taz decided to go to Up's room, even though he was mad at her for some reason.

oooOOOooo

Of course she wouldn't come. She could spend the night with Junior, so why should she choose him. Taz had already chosen Junior over him.

Why did Up feel like that for her? As he had seen her coming into the dancehall he'd had a strange feeling like there were butterflies flying around in his tummy.

Suddenly he heard a knock on his door – Taz had come. Up almost ran towards the door and opened it.

"What?" he growled.

"Up, I'm sorry!" Taz said while she grabbed his wrists, "I don't know what I've done to jou, but I'm so sorry!"

Up dragged her into his room and closed the door behind her. "No, Taz, I'm sorry! You haven't done anything!" he put his hands around her face and kissed her forehead.

"Why were jou mad at me, Up?" Taz whispered, her eyes were pleading with him.

"Junior is a jerk," Up whispered and kissed her forehead again.

"I know. But no – one else asked me out," Taz replied and looked at him like there would be something that he should understand.

"Come on, let's watch 'The Karate Kid', " Up said, because if he would look in those beautiful eyes for just one second longer he was going to kiss her. And that was not what she wanted him to do.

Taz nodded and took his hands which were still holding her face.

"I'm sorry dat I went to de dance with Junior," she whispered as the two of them were lying on Up's bed and looking into the TV – screen.

"Taz, it's not your fault," Up replied even though he didn't know why he said that.

Taz didn't reply and as he looked at her face, he saw that she'd almost fallen asleep.

"You know that we leave tomorrow? And go on vacation. You need to pack tomorrow. And in case if you didn't know, down on earth is winter," he whispered into her ear.

"I've never seen snow before," Taz said sleepy and looked at him, before she buried her head into his chest.

"And now you will," Up said softly.

He saw Taz smiling slightly before she closed her eyes again. Up turned down the TV's volume and closed his eyes, eventually.

oooOOOooo

As he woke up the next morning, he saw that Taz was running around in his room.

"What ya doing?" Up growled.

"I'm packing," she replied happily.

"In my room?" he asked.

"All my stuff is in here," Taz answered as she closed her suitcase.

Up got up and started packing, too. He didn't really know what he should take with him, because at the academy the weather was always good. Taz sat on her suitcase and watched him with amusement.

"Let's go," Up said eventually and grabbed his suitcase. He'd asked her if he should carry hers, but he knew that she would hit him if he did so.

The two of them got into the drop pod and sat down on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Up asked as he looked over to Taz and saw that she had her eyes closed.

"Nothing," she replied immediately, but refused to open her eyes, "I just don't like to be in such narrow boxes, dat's all"

"You've got claustrophobia?" he asked as he took her hand.

"No – what is dat?" Taz asked.

"That is when ya afraid of narrow rooms," Up replied.

"No, I'm not afraid. I just don't like it, idiota," she said, sternly, "I'm not afraid"

He smiled as he looked out of the drop pod's window. Up was looking forward to come back to earth, he just didn't like winter. It was stupid that the summer holidays were exactly when there was winter on earth.

They didn't fall asleep at the end of this chapter :)!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Song

Sir, I wanna buy these shoes

Sir I wanna buy these shoes

For my mama please

The drop pod's door opened and Taz finally opened her eyes. She'd kept them shut since the drop pod had taken off. And Up had been holding her hand throughout the whole journey.

Taz got up from the floor and hurried out of the drop pod. Up chuckled slightly as he followed her.

"Taz, Stay here!" he yelled as Taz took a hand of snow and held it towards her face.

"Where are we?" she asked as she brushed some snow of his shoulders.

"We're in New York," Up replied.

"De New York in America?" Taz asked disbelievingly.

"Is there another one?" he teased, laughing.

"I've never been to America before," she said dreamily, with an expression Up had never seen before, "Why are we here?"

"There is a G.L.E.E – base down here and maybe they know something about ya dad," he replied and saw Taz's face falling, "Taz?"

"I – I don't know if dat is a good idea, Up," she said after a few moments of hesitation, "What if he's dead of something?"

"Well, at least you would know it then," Up answered.

"But, maybe it's better if I don't," Taz replied quietly and refused to look at him.

oooOOOooo

Half an hour later they arrived at the little house a little outside the city, which Up had rent for them. Taz was in the small garden and was fascinated by the snow. She was almost like a little kid, though Up would never tell her that.

As Taz eventually came in, she said: "Up, do jou really want to help me to find my dad?" He nodded slightly and she continued: "I guess I'm just afraid dat he's … well, dead"

"I know, Taz, but if you don't find it out, you'll never know," he responded and squeezed her hand gently, "Ya should take a bubble bath, ya know"

Taz growled slightly, she hated that word. Well, she hated every word that sounded cute, but 'bubble bath' was one of the worst.

"Or better not. Maybe you'll find something to drink and get drunk again," Up said and gave her a dazzling smile.

Taz slapped his arm and exited into the bathroom.

Why did she make him feel so strange? She was supposed to be like a little sister to him, but that was surely not the way Up felt for her.

"Up?" Taz called from the bathroom.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" he replied.

"Could jou get me a towel?" she asked.

"Sure," Up said and opened her suitcase to search for a towel. But he suddenly stopped as he saw something that seemed to be a letter.

Up hesitate and thought about whether he should read it or not. He couldn't just read a letter he'd found in Taz's suitcase – I mean she trusted him and he couldn't betray her like that.

"Up?" Taz asked again.

Up grabbed a towel and handed it to her through the a few inches opened door.

"Taz?" he asked as soon as Taz left the bathroom and sat down besides him on the small couch.

"Yeah?" she responded and grabbed his hand into her both.

"What's, what's that?" Up asked and handed her the letter.

"It's a letter, dat my dad wrote jears ago. For my fifteenth birthday. He wrote it before he left, jou know," Taz said and it was almost a whisper.

"Can I read it?" Up asked and regretted it immediately.

"It's Spanish. Jou wouldn't understand it," she replied.

"Then translate it to me," he said gently.

Taz smiled slightly, but Up could tell that it was a fake.

"I'm not sure if I want jou to know dat," she said softly.

"You can tell me everything, Taz," Up told her and kissed her forehead, gently.

"I – I know, Up. I know, but no – one has ever seen dis before. I've never allowed anyone to read it," Taz mumbled into his ear.

"Well, you've never had a friend like me before," he said, smugly.

"Jou're right. I've never had someone to take care of me. I'm so fuckin' glad dat I have jou, Up," she admitted, quietly.

"So am I, Taz," Up said and she unfolded the letter.

"Dear Tessa – dat's my full name, jou know – I know jour mamà told jou why I had to leave. Or maybe she hasn't because she didn't want to scare jou or Pietro," Taz translated, her voice shaking. She looked as she was about to cry and Up hugged her tightly. Nudged herself closer to him and continued: "Maybe jou know about de robot wars – well, I'm pretty sure jou do – and de Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration sent me off to fight in dem. Jour mamà promised me to give jou dat letter at jour fifteenth birthday so I'll stop writing about why I left jou, because no words in de world could explain how terrible I feel about it.

Jesterday jou told me which job jou want to have when jou're older: jou want to be a Starship Ranger. And I'm pretty sure dat jou will make it. No matter what jou will do in de end, I just want to tell jou dat I'm so proud of jou!"

Up saw tears in her eyes and kissed her head as she blinked them away.

"It's okay, just cry. I'm here," he whispered into Taz's ear.

She just shook her head and continued: "I love jou, Taz. Yes, I just called jou 'Taz'. Jour mamà doesn't like dat nickname, but I think it suits jou. I truly do love jou, no matter what happens"

"Taz, it's okay to cry," Up said again and Taz looked at him. She seemed so lonely. Taz took the letter and got up. She folded it and put it back into her suitcase. Then she sat down besides Up again.

He pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Taz buried her face into the side of his neck and he felt her breathing fast.

Up took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him, gently. "Just in case if you wanted to know, I love ya," he said and stroke her under the chin with his thumb.

"I love jou, too, Up," Taz replied and kissed his nose, "And jes, I did want to know dat"

oooOOOooo

As Taz opened her eyes, she saw that something had changed in the small room. It looked much more … like Christmas. Up had put in a tree and some boxes in which she supposed to be Christmas decorations.

"Hey, ya awake!" Up said gleefully, "Ya wanna decorate the tree with me?"

Taz nodded and got up from the couch on which she had fallen asleep.

The two of them spend the whole evening with decorating the tree. As they had finished the whole room looked so cheesy like you would have never expected the two of them to decorate a room.

"Ya wanna know a secret?" Up whispered into Taz's ear. She nodded and he continued: "My real name is Joseph"

"May – may I say it?" Taz asked under her breath. She'd never thought he would tell her his real name.

"Sure. But please – keep calling me Up. I really like that name much more," Up said.

"Joseph …," Taz whispered, "Yeah, I like Up better, too. It's just … I don't know … jou"

Up gave her a dazzling smile and took the star for the top of the Christmas tree out of her hands.

"No, Up! I want to do dat!" Taz yelled and he looked at her.

Without a warning he grabbed her around her tiny waist and lifted her onto his shoulders. Up handed her the star and she put it on top of the tree.

"We should make cookies!" she yelled as Up put her onto the floor again.

He grinned at Taz's happy mood; she seemed even more like a little kid than she had done earlier that day.

oooOOOooo

Taz had fallen asleep as the cookies were in the oven and Up carried her into her bed. He had never told anyone his name before and it was a relieve that someone finally knew it. But it wasn't just someone who knew it, it was Taz. His best friend, his … what was she to him?

oooOOOooo

As Taz woke up, again, she walked towards the living room. She was wrapped so tightly in her blanket that she looked somehow like a giant marshmallow.

As she saw the tree, she was stunned. Up had light the candles and there were presents under the tree.

"I've got presents?" Taz asked him.

"Yeah, sure. What would you think you'll get for Christmas?" Up replied smirking widely at her.

"Do jou have presents, too, Up?" Taz asked.

"Well, uhm, in case if you got me something, then I do, but if you didn't, then, well, no," he responded.

"Oh. Fuck. No, I didn't, but … uh … I would have gotten jou something if I had any money, so …," she murmured.

Up pulled her into a tight embrace and handed Taz her present.

"Go on, open it!" he called out, happily and she opened it with a slight smile.

Up really hoped that she would like it, because in case if she didn't she would probably hit him. No, if he thought about it, he actually didn't think that Taz would hit him.

"Jou are joking!" she replied, disbelievingly.

"No, I'm not," Up answered, cheerfully. He went over to Taz, took the zapper out of her hands and put it carefully onto the floor.

"Jou really bought me a zapper?"

"You'll need it when you'll go to ya first mission, next year," he said, casually.

"Dat must have cost … a lot," Taz said, but she sounded happy.

"Well, I'll take that as an 'Oh my dead god, Up, I love it! You're so awesome!'," Up replied, grinning widely.

"Yeah, jou can take it as dat!" she responded and hugged him briefly.

"And I've got another one for ya! It's your dog – tags," Up told her, while he handed her a silver necklace, "They would give it to ya next year, but I asked if I could give it to ya"

"Thank jou," Taz said, as he closed it behind her neck.

But there soon was an awkward silence between the two of them as she continued to open her other presents, as she opened one that turned out to be from Junior.

"What – what did he get ya?" Up asked as casually as possible.

"No – nothing," Taz replied and tried and hid something behind her back.

"Come on, you can tell me," he said with a fake smile.

"Jou'll get angry," she responded.

"Why should I get angry?" Up couldn't help, but feel a little concerned.

"Because jou think he's a jerk," Taz said.

"Well, he is, isn't he?" he was annoyed that his voice sounded so pleadingly.

"Yeah, he is," Taz replied and handed him a beautiful golden necklace.

"So, that was nice of him, wasn't it?" Up said and tried to keep himself from destroying the necklace.

"I suppose," she said and waited for Up to give it back to here.

He got up and turned on the radio; maybe that would make the two of them feel a little more comfortable around each other at the moment.

Some cheesy Christmas song called 'Sir, I wanna buy these shoes' was on air. Up turned around to Taz, who was listening to the lyrics carefully. She looked like she was about to cry and he took her into his arms.

"I always keep on tellin' ya that it's okay to cry, but this is just a cheesy Christmas song, ya know," Up mumbled softly into Taz's hair as he pulled her into his lap.

"I know. Just give me a minute," Taz replied.

"But it's still okay to cry," he said and couldn't hold back a slight chuckle.

She smacked Up's arm, before she took the radio and threw it against the wall.

"Maybe the next song would have been better," Up said, grinning brightly.

Taz felt … strange, to say the least. She couldn't really tell what it felt like, because she had never felt like that before. But somehow it was a good feeling. The only bad feeling she had, she'd gotten as she had put on Junior's necklace. Taz didn't really know why she'd done that, but she knew sure as hell that she didn't want Up to know that she was wearing it.

What do you say? It's quite cheesy, I know that, but I can promise you that the next chapter is going to be more exciting. I know that for sure because I'm working on it right now. Please review – and don't forget, be kind to me.

Oh, I didn't write that for a long time:

Disclaimer: I don't own Taz nor Up, but I know that you already knew this.

Anyway, please review!


	12. Prologue

Thank you so much for reviewing! You make me so happy! I just want to tell you that this is really short because it's the prologue to the next part of my story which will maybe take some time to update, because I try to make the chapters much longer. But this is just to explanation to things that are going to happen in them. I want them to take place when they're back at the academy so I had to write this as a prologue. Well, I think everyone go that now, so I'll just stop to write this

Oh and to answer DaisyDoodle's question: Yeah, they do only spend one year at the academy, because usually you have to be eighteen to join. But they have to stay at the academy for another year and keep on training before they can get assigned to a Starship. I don't know why, I just felt like it.

Anyway, please, please review!

Prologue

Song

(This song is fitting for the whole second part, but I'll still put songs at the beginning of each of the following chapters)

Those voices

(A very Potter Sequel)

I know you; I've seen you in a dream

An old familiar scene from somewhere

It was their last day down on earth and Up had decided that the two of them finally had to go the G.L.E.E. – base to ask what had happened to Taz's dad.

"Taz?" he asked carefully, though he already knew what her response would be.

"No, Up," Taz said, immediately and gave him a look that told him to shut up. But this time it didn't work, it was the only reason why Up had brought her back on earth; to help her to find her dad.

"Fine. I'll go and you'll stay here, okay?" he said and Taz shook her head immediately.

"No. None of us will go, Up," she growled.

"Yes, we do go! Let's make a deal: I'll go and if they tell me that he'd died then I won't tell ya," Up suggested.

"What if jou just phone dem?" Taz responded and took his hands, "And I'll lock myself up in my room and cover my ears"

Up chuckled slightly as he took out his cell phone.

Taz had turned her music on that loud that she wondered if the person on Up's phone could hear it. She knew that she was acting childish, but there was no way that she could bear to hear that her dad had died.

"Taz?" she heard Up yelling, "Ya can come out!"

Taz left her room and walked towards the living room. "He's alive. Well, they think he is, but they're not completely sure –"

She cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck. "Where can we find him?"

"As I told ya, they're not sure if he's alive and they don't know where he is, either!" Up responded, softly. He didn't want to upset Taz, but there was sure as hell no chance that they could find her dad. He could be everywhere in outer space, for crying out loud!

"No, Up! No! No, jou don't bring me down to earth to find my papà just to tell me dat we can't find him! No, we will find him!" she yelled, angrily.

"Taz –," Up said, softly, trying to calm her down.

"No, Up! We're Up and did jou forget dat? We can do everything!"

He tried to keep control over himself due the fact how he loved that she'd called the two of them 'Up and Taz' or that he was still holding her in his arms.

"Taz," Up tried to say again and this time Taz didn't cut him off, "I would love to find him, but …"

"Let's just try!" she replied, impatiently. Up just looked at her.

And that was the last thing that the two of them said to each other until they arrived back at the academy.

I'm so sorry, I know that this sucks, but the next chapter will be so much better. Please review!

I would love to get ten more reviews before I'll upload the next chapter, but if you don't, well I guess I'll upload it either way.

Anyway, please review!


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you so much for your reviewing. It really means the world to me. Well, I didn't get ten reviews but as I said I'll update even though. Please review!

Woah, I'm actually talking a lot about reviews; I just realised that.

Chapter 12

Song

Hopelessly devoted to you

(Grease)

This night is not the first heart broken; my eyes are not the first to cry

I'm not the first to know, there's just no getting over you

"Taz!" an annoying voice broke the silence. Up groaned inwardly as the two of them turned around to see Junior running towards them. He hesitated a little; probably wondering about if Taz would hit him, if he touched her. Junior seemed to come to the conclusion that the pros outweigh the cons, because he embraced her tightly. Taz looked at Up over Junior's shoulder and her eyes seemed to be pleading with him again, but then she closed them.

Up couldn't help but feel miserable about this; no he actually almost died of the pain his heart felt, as he saw Junior touching Taz. His Taz.

"I've missed you so much!" Junior cried out.

Oh god, please make it stop, Up thought. But god was dead. He was probably even killed by Junior's father.

"Yeah," Taz replied, casually.

He took that as an 'I missed you, too', but Up was sure that it didn't mean that. Well, at least that was what he hoped.

"You wear my necklace!" Junior squealed, "I knew you would like it!"

"Yeah," she said in the same monotone voice.

Up felt his heart break and he didn't even know why he was still staying there. The two of them didn't even need him here. Just as he was about to walk away, he saw Junior bending down to kiss Taz. As Up ran away he could barely hold back his tears – what was wrong with him? He didn't cry! He hadn't cried in … he hadn't cried since he'd joined the G.L.E.E.

Taz didn't know what to think, as Junior was about to kiss her. She didn't really want this, but the only respond she could think of was to hit him and that would be a bad idea.

Junior's lips crashed down on hers harshly and as he shoved his tongue down her throat she felt like she was about to throw up. His grip tightened around Taz's waist and she finally gathered up her senses enough to pull away.

"What's wrong?" Junior asked, annoyed.

"Please … please, don't do dat," Taz responded and walked away. She could hear him calling her name, but she didn't want to turn around.

That had actually been her first kiss, for you couldn't count that one time that her best friend Léo had kissed her and she had broken his nose in response.

Where was Up? She went to look for him to tell him what had happened to her.

oooOOOooo

Up heard a knock at his door. Why did she come?

"Up, please open the door!" Taz's voice trembled and he got up from his bed to open the door for her.

Up saw her eyes looking like she'd just had a traumatic experience – no Taz actually looked like she'd been through hell.

"Taz, are you alright?" he asked, softly, wrapped his arms around the petite girl and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Yeah. I'm just overreacting, right? I mean he just kissed me. It's not dat he tried to … jou know what I mean," Taz replied and buried her face in his chest.

"No. No, you're not! You didn't want him to kiss ya, did ya?" Up said, while he thought please say you didn't want him to. Taz shook her head and he continued: "Then you're not overreacting"

"Thank jou, Up. Jou know I just wished dat dat hadn't been my first kiss. I know I'm just acting stupid, but he's so disgusting and I don't know, I just wished it hadn't been Junior," Taz whispered.

"That was your first kiss? That fuckin' bastard!" Up replied, suddenly angry. He was a little confused about what she'd said; I mean he'd thought Junior'd been Taz's boyfriend or shit.

She gave him a sad smile and led him by his hand over to the bed. Up rested his forehead against Taz's and he suddenly moved closer to stroke her lips with his, gently. Taz looked at him surprised, but as he kissed her again, she closed her eyes. Up had never felt so … accepted before. He knew that he'd fallen for her – well, Up had known this for quite a long time now, but now he knew, that there was no way he could not fall for her. Taz wrapped her hand around his neck and Up wrapped some of her curls loosely around his fingers. Finally she pulled away and looked at him, questioningly.

"Let's just say that that was your first kiss, okay? Well, if ya want to," Up said, his forehead still resting against Taz's.

"Thank jou, Up," she answered, softly and rubbed her nose gently against his.

Up knew that this didn't mean to her what it meant to him, but it didn't matter. He'd finally kissed Taz and that was all that mattered to him right now.

"No, Up. I need to thank jou for everything jou've done for me. Jou saved my life, jou are my best friend, jou help me to find my dad and now dis …"

"Ya don't have to thank me for that, Taz," Up replied, softly and kissed Taz's nose.

She giggled in a very un – Taz – like way and said: "I'll stay here tonight, jou know?"

Up nodded and replied: "I didn't think you wouldn't"

oooOOOooo

"Taz, ya have to go to class!" Up whispered into her ear.

"Class?" Taz yelled as she got up, startled, "I thought I'd finished school!"

"Yup. But you still have classes!"

"Oh, Jesus, jou such a carbon, Up!" she yelled and slapped his hand which was resting on her cheek.

"I know you love me!" Up replied, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, jou're right," Taz said to his surprise, while she started to get dressed, "Jou know, Up, I guess I'll move in here," she said while she put on a fresh shirt.

"I thought you already had," Up replied, grinning widely.

"Look who's here!" she heard Junior's voice as she left Up's room, "its little Tazzie!"

"What de hell?" Taz said and looked at him as if he'd gone mad. Well, he probably had, she was not quite sure.

It was obvious that Junior had been waiting for her. And why had he called her 'Tazzie'? It annoyed the hell out of Taz; for some reason she was okay with Up calling her that, but now as Junior did; no freaking way!

"What's wrong with jou?" Taz asked, dangerously and he'd probably been scared if he hadn't two six – feet guys which looked like rocks on his side.

"With me?" Junior replied, smiling smugly, "Well, I'm not the one who snogges me just to go and shag your fucking lieutenant. Just play your little games with him and don't try and do it with me, Tazzie"

"I don't play any games! And I didn't shag Up and he's not my lieutenant either!" Taz yelled, angrily. She didn't want anybody to hear them, though; it would have been so embarrassing that she'd freaked out just because of Junior. "Jou're such a cabron, Junior!"

"Don't try and fool me with French," he replied, coldly.

"What de hell? It's Spanish, idiota!" Taz yelled.

"Doesn't matter. When my dad finally –," Junior cut himself off.

"When jour dad what?" she replied, suspiciously.

"Nothing," he snapped and his voice had annoyingly changed back into his arrogant snare, "But we were talking about what a little slut you are, weren't we?"

"No, we weren't. Just fuck off, will jou?" Taz responded, angrily.

But suddenly Junior's collided with her jaw and she collapsed onto the floor. He kicked her in the guts and suddenly Up's door opened.

"Get up," Up told her harshly and helped her up. Taz looked at him surprised as he lifted her up in the air and put her down on his shoulders.

Junior was still laughing; because he thought himself save by these guys around him, who were even taller and wider than Up. One of them lunged forward and seemed to punch Up. Taz couldn't see what had happened what had happened but she could feel him writhe with pain. But the three others didn't notice it; they simply had no time to do so, for Up chasing suddenly after them. Taz tangled her fingers with his soft, silvery hair.

He yelled loudly in words Taz couldn't understand; she felt a little dizzy, all of a sudden and somehow Junior and his companions seemed to get scared because they started to run as fast as they could.

Up didn't stop running until Junior and his pals jumped in fear into the academy's dumpster. He put Taz onto the floor and looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Sure? Are jou? Jour eye; it's bleeding …" Taz said softly and reached out one hand as if to touch it, but changed her mind.

Up grabbed her hand and handed her a tissue. "Could ya please …" There was no need for him to finish his sentence for Taz understood perfectly well what he meant. She cleaned the blood away, gently.

"Thank jou, Up," Taz said. She stood on her tip – toes to reach his eye.

"Not at all," he replied, fondly.

"How did he get it bleeding? I mean he just punched jou," she said, caressing his cheek.

"He punched me with a knife in his hand, if that's what ya mean," Up responded. "I can consider myself lucky that he didn't cut out my eye"

"Yeah, sure jou are, Up," Taz whispered and he realised that her nose was only inches away from his lips.

"Taz, listen ya really need to go to class now. And I'll just go to the sickbay and let them have a look at my eye, okay?"

Taz just nodded slightly and turned around to walk to where her class had always been. Somehow it felt right to be back again.

"Sorry dat I'm late," she said as she entered the classroom, not even bother to look at Commander Paul.

"Sit down," he snared and Taz sat down on the table where she and Specs had always used to sit. But Specs wasn't there. Taz glanced around the room – she wasn't there at all. She spotted Krayonder and mouthed: "Where's Specs?"

"I don't know, man! It's not that I'm, like, her stalker, man!" he responded, shouting through the whole classroom.

"Is there a problem?" Commander Paul asked, coldly.

"No, Commander," the two of them replied, simultaneously.

"I hope so. But, I think I'll give the two of you detention, though. For shouting through the class"

Taz didn't even bother to tell him that she hadn't said a word; it would have been useless.

Suddenly the door swung open and Up stepped inside the classroom. Some of the students gasped – they were pretty scared of him.

"Taz, I've been promoted!" he yelled, cheerfully.

The other students looked at him confused (or still scared) as he rushed over to Taz to hug her tightly.

"Dat's … dat's great, Up, but we're supposed to have class here and I've already got enough trouble with dat cabron over dere," Taz whispered into his ear, but Commander Paul heard her either way.

"Yes, that's right. And I would want you to leave now, Up," he said and Up nodded. He'd completely forgotten about how much of a git his previous teacher was.

Commander Paul waited for Up to leave, before he continued with his lesson. He talked about the safety instructions on a Starship, but no – one really listened. Well, that was at least true for Taz. She thought about how things would change if Up got assigned to a Starship and had to leave her.

oooOOOooo

While the other students left for lunch break before the afternoon's class, Taz and Krayonder had to stay at their classroom. Commander Paul left to get something to eat, too.

"So, what's wrong with Specs?" Taz asked.

Krayonder groaned; he'd seen this coming. "I don't know, man. I haven't seen her since … I don't know, I guess since she'd left for vacation, man"  
"Jou didn't write e – mails or something?" she asked, disbelievingly.

"Well, I wrote her several times, but she didn't respond, man"

Oh dead – god, this whole 'man' – thing was getting annoying.

"Do jou know if she's got some other friends – I mean except for us?" Taz asked and vowed to herself that she was going to throw a knife at his hand if there was another 'man' in his sentence.

Krayonder seemed to sense this because he replied: "No. You know as well as I do that no – one except for us ever talked to her"

"We need to find her. Maybe something had happened to her. Jou know, de robotas -," Taz cut herself off as she saw that his face went pale. He seemed to really care about Specs.

"As sweet as this is, you are supposed to be quiet until I allow you to leave," Commander Paul, suddenly entering the classroom, said.

"And do jou allow us to leave?" Taz said, calmly.

"No. I think the two of you have still not learned your lesson, so I'll go and finish my lunch. And when I'll come back we'll talk about what I'll do with you," he replied, a smug smirk across his face.

Taz gave a loud groan and buried her face in her hands. She wanted to talk to Up what was going to happen now since he'd been promoted and now she couldn't leave that fucking room. And even worse she had to stay here with that fucking bastard Krayonder. Now, he had tried to be her friend in the previous year, Taz should stop to insult him, even in her thoughts.

Krayonder reached out one hand as if to touch her, but he decided not to, he was afraid that she would punch him.

"I'm sorry," Taz suddenly said.

"Why?" Krayonder replied and looked at her as if she'd gone mad.

"I'm sorry dat we got in detention. But, look, I really need to see Up now, could jou just do something to help me to get out of here? Do anything," Taz said and she was angry about how pleadingly her voice sounded.

"Oh. Oh, that's what you want, man? But I actually don't want to get into more trouble just because you want to see that … guy, man!" he replied, angrily.

"Yeah, I know, but just help me, okay? I'll tell him dat I knocked jou out or something," she said, he voice even more pleadingly. If she couldn't see Up now she would have to wait until curfew to go back to his room.

"Taz, I really want to be your friend, but I don't care if you don't like me anymore if I won't help you, man. I -," Krayonder started to explain, but Taz cut him off.

"I know. I'm sorry, Krayonder. I just need to talk to him, jou know"

He nodded and said slowly: "I guess you could just leave, man. I mean, we're not longer students here so I guess he actually can't give us detention, man"

"I'll go if jou'll go too," Taz replied. She knew what a candy – ass Krayonder was and if he really wanted to be her friend then he had to try and get braver.

"Please?" she said as she saw him hesitating.

Much to Taz's surprise Krayonder nodded. She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of the empty classroom. Taz was concerned that the two of them would pass Commander Paul's way, because she wasn't quite sure if she could control her anger if he would tell them to go back to detention.

"Where are we going, man?" Krayonder whined since Taz didn't stop running and pulled him with her.

"To Up of course," she replied as if he should have been aware of that.

Krayonder decided not to argue as Taz knocked on a door. Up opened immediately and his expression turned annoyed as he saw Krayonder. Taz immediately dropped his sleeve and said: "Are jou actually even doing something else dan to sit in jour room and wait for me to come?"  
Up smirked, but Krayonder could have sworn that he blushed slightly. Taz didn't seem to notice.

"Come in," Up replied, grinning widely.

Taz dragged Krayonder into Up's room and sat down on the bed. Up joined her immediately and didn't even bother that some Ensign saw how he hold her in his arms.

"What ya doin' here, Taz?" he said, softly.

"Commander Paul got us detention because he – "she pointed over to Krayonder, "had to yell through de whole class. And of course Paul thought it was my fault"

"Well, you talked to me at first, man," Krayonder replied and he was surprised that she smirked at him. Maybe Up's presence made her somewhat … nice.

"And why are ya here?" Up was still only talking to Taz.

"Because Krayonder said we could leave because he's not our teacher and we're not his students so he's not supposed to give us detention," Taz said and Up looked at her concerned.

"Taz, I don't think that that's true, ya know. But since I'm a commander now I can tell him that I told ya to leave," he replied.

"Oh! Right! Jour promotion! Dat was why I wanted to talk to jou!" Taz yelled, cheerfully and embraced Up tightly. The two of them hold each other for several minutes until Taz put her hands around his face and forced Up to look at her. "What does dat mean now? Does it mean dat jou have to leave me – I mean here?"

"I won't leave you until you want me to," Up repeated the sentence he'd said at the first day that the two of them had spoken, "But, Taz, I guess I'll have to – someday. But I'll take ya with me if I can"

"Thanks, Up," Taz replied and kissed his nose.

"Deadgoddammit! I mean you guys are cute and shit, but could you please stop now, man?" Krayonder cried. Taz had completely forgotten that he was here too. And so had Up.

"Oh shit," he mouthed towards Taz who broke into hysterical laughter.

"Up, do jou know what happened to Specs?" Taz asked as she remembered that her kinda – best – friend was missing.

"Who's Specs?" Up asked, curiously.

Krayonder looked like he was about to hit Up, if he hadn't been that afraid of him. Taz smiled slightly.

"Jou know, dat girl with whom I spend my time when I'm not with jou," she explained.

"Oh, I remember. What about her?" Up answered.

"We don't know. She hasn't returned to school," Krayonder replied.

"He's in love with her," Taz told Up with a slight smirk.

Krayonder began to deny it, but Up beamed at her. He looked like he was about to say something, but just kissed her forehead gently.

Krayonder smirked at the two of them. He'd always thought that he and Specs were meant to be with each other, but Taz and Up they seemed even more like that. He didn't understand why they weren't together by now.

"Ya wanna watch a movie?" Up asked Taz. She nodded but then she glanced over to Krayonder.

"Oh, I'll go, man, if you don't want me here, man," he replied.

Up felt a little jealous as Taz responded: "No, of course jou can stay her, right, Up?"

He nodded. No, he wasn't just a little jealous; he was really jealous.

Taz rested her head on Up's chest and he turned on the TV.

"No, man! I don't like that movie, man! Can't we just watch something else, man?" Krayonder whined as soon as he realised that the movie on the screen was 'The Karate Kid'.

"Uh, sure. What would ya recommend?" Up asked and Taz frowned at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as Krayonder left the room to get a DVD.

"I don't want to watch his stupid movie," Taz replied, angrily.

She looked at Up and realised that his face was really close to hers. She could just kiss him it would have been so easy to just kiss him. But that was stupid. He'd only kissed her yesterday just to be nice. Up was her best friend.

But before Taz could think about this any longer, the door swung open and Krayonder stepped in. He was holding a DVD – box in his hands and looked at the two of them with a knowing smile. Taz had loved to punch him in his face, but unfortunately she'd promised to herself that she was nice to him.

"What's dat?" she asked, suspiciously and pointed at the movie he put into the DVD – player.

"It's called 'The Lion King'," Krayonder replied, apparently unaware about the comic lion which was on the screen now.

Taz doubted that he was really straight.

But she really did like the movie. If Krayonder wouldn't have been there Taz'd cried. Up saw it in her eyes and stroke her cheek gently. Taz removed her head from its place on his chest and rested it on the crook of his neck. Krayonder glanced at them before he left the room quietly. He smiled to himself as he closed the door. The two of them hadn't even noticed.

Taz looked around the room and realised that Krayonder had left. She gave a sight of relief.

"What?" Up asked, smirking slightly.

"He's gone. Now I can finally cry," Taz replied and he felt something wet dripping down onto his neck. He placed a hand loosely on the back of her head and with the other he rubbed her back soothingly.

"Dat's stupid, isn't it? I mean dat I'm crying because of a fuckin' Disney movie with singing lions," Taz mumbled.

"No, it's not," Up replied, firmly, "It's a really good movie"

He chuckled slightly and she hit his arm. Up tickled her and Taz hit him again.

"Stop it! I want to watch dat movie!" she growled.

"I thought ya didn't like it?" Up said and smiled at her as she looked up to him.

Taz groaned and replied his smile, eventually. "I didn't say dat"

Up looked into her eyes; he wanted to kiss her again, but he couldn't do this. She just allowed him to kiss her yesterday because she was upset that Junior had kissed her.

For some reason he thought he could see in her eyes that Taz wanted to do so too, but that was just his wish, of course.

"Up?"

"Yeah?" he replied, dizzily.

"Why are jou looking at me?" Taz asked, slightly annoyed.

"Because you're fuckin' beautiful!" Up growled.

"Thank jou, Up," she replied, confused, but somehow happy.

Taz looked at him carefully before she said: "Jou don't look to bad for jourself"

She reached out one hand and brushed it over the cut over his eye. "Jou know," Taz said, "Jou look like dat Scar from de movie"

Up laughed, took her hand and kissed it. "So that means that I'm evil?"

"No," Taz replied, with a slyly smile, "Jour to soft to be evil"

Up took his pillow and smashed it against the petite girl. Taz replied immediately with throwing him out of the bed. She sat down on Up's chest, grabbed his wrists and smiled down at him. "Are jou giving up?"

Under different circumstances he'd been able to get her of him in no time, but Up was caught of guard because of how close her face was to his and how good it felt to have her so close to him.

"Yeah," Up replied, softly.

Taz was surprised; he could see it in her eyes. She bent down and rested her forehead against Up's. He felt confused as he saw Taz's eyes going softer. Up didn't know what this was all about; he could only think about how badly he wanted Taz to kiss him. He rolled over so that Taz was lying on the floor now and he was lying upon her.

"Get off, cabron!" Taz yelled and tried to hit him, but she couldn't move.

"Oh, I think ya loving that," Up replied, smirking down at her.

"Just get off," she growled.

"Fine," he answered and kissed Taz's forehead before he got up.

"So, now we've got two people to find; your dad and Specs," Up said as he grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet.

"But we can manage dat, mi amigo," Taz replied, fondly.

Up nodded briefly. Of course they would.

oooOOOooo

The two of them were laying on Up's bed as he looked at the clock and said: "Taz, ya gotta get goin'! You've still got classes!"

Taz frowned at him and said: "Oh, come on, I can just skip dem and spend the day with jou instead"

Up looked at her. He had loved to spend the day with Taz and he loved how she said she wanted to spend the day with him.

"Ya have to. And pick up that Krayonder of yours; he looks like one to skip class too," Up replied.

"He's not my Krayonder," Taz growled.

"Okay, I was just checking," he said and stroke her cheek tenderly.

Taz got up and felt confused. What had he meant with that? That couldn't mean that he was interested in her, could it?

She went over to the room which the other ensigns had to share. Taz knocked at the door and Krayonder opened.

"What's wrong, man," he said, annoyed.

"We need to go to class," Taz replied.

"Oh, no we don't, man!" Krayonder whined.

"Come on. Up said we have to," she said and tried to not punch him.

"Oh and because Up said that we have to do it, man?" he replied.

"He's a commander," Taz said, "Just let's go, okay?"

To her surprise Krayonder nodded and followed her to their classroom.

Class had already started and a man Taz had never seen before was talking to their classmates. The two of them took a seat at a table and looked at the man. He hadn't even noticed that the two of them and kept on talking.

Taz didn't listen to him and she was a little confused as Krayonder took out a sheet and began to write something down.

"What are jou doing?" she hissed and he started to explain that they had to write an essay about the G.L.E.E's history.

"What de hell?" Taz yelled, "Why should we do dat? Dat has nothing to do with being a Starship Ranger!"

The man looked at her. "Is there a problem, miss?"

"Jes, actually dere is one. Why should we write dis? Dat makes absolutely no sense!" Taz replied.

"Well, I'm a commander and I say it makes sense," he answered calmly.

Taz began to yell at the man in Spanish, but unfortunately he could understand her. Krayonder tried to calm her, but that just made her angrier.

"Detention! Both of you!" The commander finally said.

Taz groaned and Krayonder looked at her angrily. She was sure that he would stop to try and be her friend if she would get the two of them into more trouble.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I know. Doesn't matter, man," he replied.

That was a long chapter and no – one fell asleep at the end. I don't really like that chapter, but I actually never like anything that I write. Please review!


	14. Chapter 14

I know that this chapter is kinda crap, and so will the following chapters be, but my sister who hasn't even read my story yet and who hasn't even seen Starship wanted me to do it. Please review and please be nice even though it's crap.

Chapter 13

Song

I know him so well

(Chess)

Nothing is so good it last eternally; perfect situations must go wrong. But this has never yet prevented; wanting far to much for far to long. Looking back I could have played it differently won a few more moments who can tell?

But it took time to understand the man; now at least I know I know him well

Wasn't it good? Wasn't he fine? Isn't it madness, he can't be mine?

But in the end he needs a little more than me, more security.

He needs his fantasy and freedom; I know him so well.

No one in your life is with you constantly. No one is completely on your side.

And though I moved my world to be with him; still the gap between us is to wide.

Looking back I could have played things differently; learned about the man before I fell.

I was just a little careless maybe.

But I was ever so much younger then. Now at least I know I know him well.

Wasn't it good? Wasn't he fine? Isn't it madness he won't be mine?

Didn't I know how it would go?

If I knew from the start; why am I falling apart?

Up had been looking for Taz the whole evening, but he couldn't find her.

"Where's Taz?" he asked one of the commanders who were teaching at the academy.

"Who's that?"

"Ya know, black hair, really small, the youngest ensign at the entire academy, pretty –" Wait – had he really just said that?

The other commander smiled at him, knowingly. "Oh, I know who you mean. She's gotten herself into detention again"

Up almost smiled; he was so damn fond of her. He had actually known that Taz was kind of a rebel, but he hadn't known that she was acting like that during class too.

"And do ya know where she is?"

"Sickbay," the other commander replied.

"What?" Up yelled, startled.

"Yeah. They had to clean the sickbay"

Up sighted in relieve and headed towards the sickbay.

As he opened the door he could hear Taz muttering in Spanish and smiled slightly. But Up's face fell as he sighted Krayonder next to her.

"Up!" Taz suddenly yelled and threw her arms around his waist.

"Please say jou came to get us out of here," she continued and showed him her hands which were covered in blood, which seemed to not be hers, "I guess he's about to faint" Taz pointed over to Krayonder.

"I'm not, man!" Krayonder replied immediately, but he looked indeed really pale.

"What did ya do?" Up asked without even looking at him and took Taz's hands.

"Nothing. We just had to clean dat fucking sickbay and hell, it's so disgusting! Please just get us out of here," she said, her eyes pleading with him.

"Sure. Come on guys," Up said and led the two of them out of the room.

Krayonder headed to his room and Taz turned to Up: "What are we going to do now?"

"Let's go to the library," he replied. He hated to spend his time at the library, but Taz loved to spend her time there and Up loved to spend his time with Taz.

"Oh, alright," Taz replied, slightly confused about his suggestion. He'd never asked her to go to the library before.

"Up, is something bothering jou?" she asked as the two of them took a seat on the small couch at the library.

"Uh, no, not basically," Up replied and handed her a book from shelf next to them.

Taz opened it and looked at him confused. Up wondered what it was that made her so confused. He hadn't looked at the book before he'd handed it over to Taz.

"Up, what's wrong? Is dere something jou want to tell me?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"Taz, ya know that I love ya and that I never would want to leave ya -," Up began, but she cut him off: "Just spit it out, ese"

"I got assigned to a mission. No actually I'm in charge of a mission and –"

"And I'll stay here, right? Jou'll leave me, right?" Taz replied. She didn't seem like she was about to burst into tears, but Up knew that she was.

"Uh … yeah, that pretty much sums it up," he replied and reached out one hand to touch her face.

Taz brushed it away and yelled: "And jou just say dat like dat!"

"Taz, I'm so sorry, I can't -," Up tried to explain; he saw tears in her eyes and felt horrible about that. But suddenly Taz's hurt expression changed to an angry one and she looked at the book carefully, before she threw it against Up's head.

"Taz!" he yelled as she got up and left the library.

oooOOOooo

Up lay in his bed and waited for the next morning to come. Taz hadn't apologised yet and he didn't really expect her to. She was just Taz and she never apologised,

He remembered about how he'd been young and had had to join the Starship Rangers. Up had never had anyone to depend on and he knew that he would have reacted just the same as Taz did now.

Up had always been a kinda weird kid. He didn't like to play with the other kids in his hometown in Alabama. He'd never liked his full name too and had always tried to make up new names for himself. He'd also never had never had any friends, the other kids just didn't understand why Up always talked about travelling to outer space. They didn't like that he always wanted to fight with them and that his hair had a slightly silver colour.

But Up had always found the strength to ignore them. He'd always been the one to scare the other kids away from him and Up had actually never had a problem with that.

But as the robots killed his family and everybody he'd ever known he had no other choice than to join the Starship Rangers. He'd told them that he'd already been eighteen and because everything had been destroyed they couldn't check it.

Suddenly Up heard a knock on the door. He knew that Taz had come. He opened the door as fast as he could and let her in.

"Lo siento, Up! I'm so sorry!" Taz whispered as he pulled her into him, "I just can't be without jou"

Up lifted her face so that she was crying. He gently wiped her tears away and pulled her to his bed.

"I'm so sorry, Up. Jou – jou're everything to me and …," Taz managed to say while she was sobbing heavily.

She cuddled up towards him and Up wrapped his arms around her. He looked at her face and realised that she was through her strength and her courage still a fifteen year old girl who'd lost everything. And now she was bout to loose her only friend, too.

"You'll … you'll stay here tonight, won't ya?" Up whispered in her ear after a while in which the two oft them had only been holding each other tightly.

"Sure as hell I will," Taz responded with a voice that sounded as if she hadn't used it for ages.

"I don't want to leave a, Taz, but I have to," Up said and couldn't quite control the anger in his voice. "Oh, and actually, my head is still hurting because ya threw a book at it. It had more than five hundred pages. I counted them myself"

"Jou counted dem? Idiota! It's standing on de bottom of every page how many dey are!" Taz almost laughed at the thought of this. She sat up and kissed Up's forehead. "Better?"

It would have been so easy to kiss her. Wait – since when did he want to actually kiss her? Well, that had started a long time ago, but he did want to do that more than anything since he'd kissed her yesterday.

Or actually since the first day the two of them had met.

Up remembered how he had seen her fighting the robots. She'd been wearing a frumpy pink dress and she also had lots of goofy makeup covering her face. But through all of that Taz had still been beautiful.

Yes, he actually had always wanted to kiss her.

Up wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. She smelt somehow like honey. That was not a scent that people would connect with who Taz tried to be, but it fit perfectly well with what Up saw in her.

"¡Que te den por culo!" she shouted, but Up didn't care for he didn't understand what she'd said.

"Up, stop smelling at me!" Taz continued.

"Oh, please, don't pretend as if you've never done that," Up replied and was pretty happy that she'd turned off the lights. Of course she'd just done that to let him not see her crying, but he didn't want Taz to see that he'd blushed.

"So what," she replied, angrily, but Up didn't want the two of them to fight. Not in this night of all nights.

Taz got up and he feared that she would leave, but she just turned on the lights.

"Why did ya turn them on?" Up asked.

"I just want to see jou," she replied as she lay down next to him again.

"And I'm happy to see ya, Taz," Up said and kissed her forehead.

Taz closed her eyes and rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Taz?"

"Yeah?" Taz asked sleepy.

"Ya wanna talk about something?" Up asked. He didn't know what to talk about, but he just wanted to hear her talking.

"Sure. What do jou want to talk about?" she replied.

"Just talk. Tell me everything that comes to your mind. I just want to hear ya talking," Up said somehow shyly. He didn't know what Taz would think of that, but I didn't really bother him because that was the last time that he was going to see her.

"Okay. Do jou know what I think about? I think dat I will go onto my first mission and jou aren't dere. I'll get assigned to a Starship and jou'll come back from jour mission and we'll never see each other again. Dat's is what I think about, Up," she said sadly and as Up looked down to her wonderful face he saw that she was still crying.

"That's not going to happen, Taz. We'll find a way because fate will always find a way," he said softly.

"What do jou mean 'fate'?" Taz asked in a sceptical tune.

"Look, Taz, after this mission I can assign ya to my Starship," Up answered without answering her question. He thought it was very embarrassing that he had said stuff about 'fate'. But he actually did believe that it was fate that the two of them had met.

Taz didn't ask more about 'fate', but Up knew that she didn't believe in it.

The two of them spent the whole night awake and talked about everything that came into their minds. Except of their feelings for each other. Taz even tried to teach him Spanish, but in the end he still didn't understand anything.

She felt like she was drowning. Up'd always been the one person Taz could always hold on to since he'd saved her from the robots merely a year ago. And now that was the last night she could spend with him.

"I – I love you," Up whispered, but he was not sure if Taz had heard it.

"I know. Jour're my best friend. Jou have to love me even if I don't understand why," she replied and Up knew that meant 'I love you, too'.

He felt Taz caressing his cheek and now he knew for sure that it meant 'I love you, too'. Up felt her lips on his ear and heard her whisper "Te amo".

She started to tell Up every Spanish tale she knew. At first in Spanish and then she translated all of them to English. As she couldn't think of any tales left Taz began to teach him Spanish once more. Up was a terrible student, but Taz was patient, even though he'd never thought so.

At the end of the night the two of them were just holding each other tightly and listened to each others breathing. Up's alarm started to ring and Taz smashed it against the wall. He got up.

"Taz, I need to go now," Up said softly.

Taz got up, too. Up turned on the light and saw that she was crying. He wondered if she'd never stopped crying through the night, but he was pretty sure that she hadn't.

"Taz, can I ask ya something?" Up asked, hesitantly.

"Everything," Taz replied, immediately.

"What book did I give ya?"

"Uh … Up, jou don't even know it," she responded.

"Just tell me, okay?" Up said.

"I'll tell jou when jou come back," Taz said and grabbed his hands.

Up hesitated for a moment before he took his dog – tags and put them around Taz's neck.

"That's for ya. So that ya won't forget me if … That ya won't forget me …," he said, while he closed them.

If you won't come back, Taz finished the sentence in her head. But she just nodded.

"Oh and Up, do jou want to know what else I'm thinking about?" Taz said, softly as Up kissed her neck where the clasp of the dog – tags was.

"Of course I do, Taz," Up replied.

Taz turned around and embraced him tightly. Up put his hands around her face softly and lifted it carefully so that she had to look at him.

"I would never forget jou, ese," Taz whispered harshly and looked into his eyes.

"And so do I. Taz, ya the most amazing person I've ever met and I have never felt what I feel around ya before," Up responded.

"What – what do jou feel around me?" she asked, softly and seemed really curious.

Up fell silent for a few moments before he bent down to Taz and pressed his lips onto hers briefly. She looked totally confused and Up left the room.

He knew that that had been the wrong thing to do, but he had just wanted to let Taz know how he felt in case if he died. And if he wouldn't die he could just pretend that that had never happened.

Taz looked at the door as Up shut it. She was even to confused to cry right now. Had that really just happened? She wasn't quite sure, but she was never going to ask him what that was all about.

She turned around to find a letter on his bed. Taz was even more confused now; she was quite sure that it hadn't been there as she got up. She took it and unfolded it carefully.

Dear Taz,

Ya know just as well as I do that I'm fuckin' terrible at writing letters. I just wanted to say that I love ya so fuckin' much and that I'll miss ya so fuckin' much too. Please just don't forget me and I just wanted to say that I'll write ya an e – mail as soon as we arrive at Pigfarts. I know that ya hate it (I mean Pigfarts) so I'll just stop writing this letter now.

In love,

Up

Tears dropped onto the paper and it took Taz a few moments until she realised that it were hers. Up was really terrible in writing letters, but she knew that he had put much effort in that. She couldn't help but read the letter over and over again.

Taz got over to the computer and looked if Up had already written her an e – mail, but of course he hadn't. He'd left only about half and hour ago.

Taz sat in front of the computer for what seemed like an eternity until she finally got an e – mail. Her heart skipped a beat but she felt almost disappointed as she realised that it was only from Krayonder who wanted to know how she felt.

Of course he wanted to be nice and to be her friend, but she wasn't in the right mood for friends right now. Well, she actually never was – except for Up. So she just deleted his e – mail.

Taz had to wait for another three hours until Up finally wrote to her.

"Hi, Taz,

sorry for that crappy letter. We just arrived at Pigfarts. It looks kinda creepy. But it's been totally destroyed by robots and so I have to help them, even though they're kinda shitty. Love ya, please tell me what's going on down at the academy"

Taz almost had to cry as she read this; it was even worse than the letter, but it was so cute that he wrote to her. She sat what seemed like an eternity and thought about what she should write, but then she finally decided what she should write.

A/N: There's going to be some more about Pigfarts so if you don't like that then I'm really sorry. Please review, you guys.

- urNotPERMITTEDtoTOUCH


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I just wanted to say that. Oh, and sorry for not updating, but writer's block was killing me. I've written this ages ago, but I just thought it sucks and I didn't want to upload it. Well, I still think it sucks, but I always think so, so here is chapter fifteen. Thank you so much for reviewing!

Chapter 15

Song

Dark, sad, lonely knight

(Holy musical B man)

As I look at my life I see something's not right  
Like a thousand percent.  
And I wonder what it is, how it is that it's always just me here  
Crying alone at the end of the night, ten thousand percent.

Up had been writing to Taz all during the time they had to spend apart so it was confusing to her, that he suddenly stopped doing so. But of course nothing had happened to him, had it?

Taz tried hard to not show how sad she was about that, but no – one even tried to ask her, because they were afraid of how she would react. Krayonder had once tried to talk to her about that, though, but as he'd seen Taz's gaze he'd gotten afraid and ran off.

Up had told her that Specs had been assigned to his Starship to do some engineering shit. Krayonder had been so happy as she had told him that, but yet she couldn't even be happy about finding her best friend for being so concerned about Up.

Well, Taz would never tell anybody, not even Krayonder who had become a close friend of hers since Up was gone.

She left Up's room – in which she had been sleeping since he had left – and walked to class.

"Hey, Taz, man, how are you doing, man?" Krayonder yelled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Taz tried to walk away, but he just smiled at her and said: "Have you got some news about Specs, dude?"

"No. No I haven't and I would like to go to class now, thank you very much, idiota," she replied without even looking at him and kept on walking.

"Taz, is something wrong, dude?" he said and forced her to look at him.

"No. Estoy muy bien," Taz replied, angrily and tried to pull her arm out of his grip.

"Well, due I have no glue what that means, I can't say that you are, but I can tell, that there is something wrong, man!" Krayonder answered and kept holding her arm.

"Let go off me! ¡Largate, cabron!" Taz yelled and she could tell from the look in Krayonder's eyes that he had no glue what she meant. She should probably learn to keep talking in English while she was angry.

"Dude, I have no glue what that's supposed to mean either, but I'm your friend, you can talk to me!" he replied and Taz kept on struggling, though.

"Let go of me! ¡Estoy muy bien! ¡Largate, maricon!" she yelled, but Krayonder who had no glue what she was talking about didn't take it as an insult.

"Taz, man," he said softly and Taz finally managed to pull her arm out of his grip.

"It's Up, okay!" she screamed, eventually, "He hasn't written to me in days and now –"

"Now you're angry?" Krayonder finished the sentence for her.

"No. No, I'm not angry, Krayonder. I'm concerned," Taz replied and winced slightly as she realised that she was about to cry.

"Oh my god, you have feelings, man!" he blurted out and hugged her tightly.

"Tingate," Taz muttered before she softly added, "Gracias"

"No problem, man. No problem," Krayonder mumbled.

Taz was confused – she felt so comfortable. She hadn't allowed anyone to touch her since Up had left. But Taz also knew that she was wrong – of course Krayonder could understand her for Specs being on this mission too.

"Lo siento. I'm really sorry, okay," Taz whispered into his ear for him still let not go.

"As I said no problem, man. But you should really stop to always speak Spanish, man," Krayonder replied. That was quite stupid and even racist if Taz hadn't know that he was just to stupid to figure that out. So Taz just nodded her head.

"Taz, I quite like you, you know," he said.

"Jeah. Thanks," Taz replied.

oooOOOooo

Up's time at Pigfarts had been quite hard. It was hard to be apart from Taz, though he hadn't even known how to act around her after he had her somehow accidentally kissed her. But still, it was the toughest time Up had ever had due the fact the he hadn't seen her in almost more than a month. The only thing that made his time at Pigfarts any better was writing e – mails to Taz.

And he was so annoyed by a blond tiny boy who looked somehow quite much like Taz and kept following around all day calling him 'Voldemort' what Up considered to be some weird kind of pet – name.

And it didn't make it any better that this boy looked so much like Taz that it almost hurt to look at him for Up being reminded of what he missed. And he could tell: It breaks a man to see what he misses.

"The robots!" Someone yelled, entering his room.

"What?" Up screamed, while spinning his head around and getting up from his bed.

"Yes! They are attacking again!" the ensign yelled while storming out of the room to continue telling everyone else that the robots attacked.

Up left the room and headed towards the direction from which he heard screams and the unmistakable sound of the robot's lasers.

oooOOOooo

"What's going on here?" Taz muttered as she joined Krayonder and Brendan in the entrance hall of the academy.

"I have no glue, man," Krayonder replied while Brendan just shrugged.

Commander Dean stepped in front of the students and said: "I think that you all know that we sent down some rangers to a space – school called Pigfarts"

He waited for the students to nod and give sounds of agreement before he continued: "And well, it seems as the robots attacked there again and well, and it seems unlikely that any of them survived. So –"

"NO! NO!" Taz's screams had cut the commander off.

She felt Krayonders arm wrapping around her shoulders and grabbed his other hand. Taz knew that she was crying and she was also aware of the fact that she was crying in front of everyone, but in that moment she couldn't care less. She looked over to Krayonder; he was also crying. Of course, Specs had been there two. Brendan shot the two of them an odd look and ran a hand through his ginger hair in confusion.

What an idiot, Taz thought, but she didn't care as she realised that the two of them were not the only ones crying.

Taz let go of Krayonder's hand and stormed out of the hall. She headed towards Up's room and curled herself up on his bed.

Taz had never cried that much since … well, she had actually never cried that much. She didn't even dare to open her eyes for her fearing to see the familiar room and cry even more. Taz felt numb like she couldn't feel anything anymore. She got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to have a shower. Suddenly she caught sight of Up's shaver and took it in her hands. Taz put it to her wrist and watched with satisfaction as scarlet blood drops became visible.

"WHAT ARE YOU, LIKE, DOING, MAN?" Krayonder yelled and Taz spun around.

"Nothing," she replied, dropping the shaver into the sink.

Krayonder stepped closer towards her than it was comfortable for Taz and grabbed her wrist. "You mustn't do this, Taz"

"¡Largate, cabron! Tingate! ¡Chupa me el culo! Please let go of me!" she winced, but Krayonder was still holding her wrist and pulled her to the first aid box from which he took some bandages and wrapped them around her wrist carefully.

"Why are jou here?" Taz finally said as the two of them sat on Up's bed, Krayonder was still holding her wrist. Apparently he feared that she was going to try something like that again.

"I wanted to tell you that they decided to send some rangers down to Pigfarts and I wanted to ask you if you want to join them, dude," Krayonder replied.

"We are allowed to do that?" Taz asked, confused.

"No, we technically aren't, but I thought we could sneak onto the ship and well … don't know, just let's do it, man!" he blurted.

"Wha – jeah, let's just do it, ese!" she replied.

Taz got up and went into the bathroom.

"Taz, no! Get out of there!" Krayonder yelled and stormed into the bathroom.

She was holding a pair of scissors in her hands.

"No, no Taz! There is no reason for doing this! Taz, please don't!" he whined and grabbed her hands.

"No! No, Krayonder! I just wanted to cut my hair," Taz replied.

"Why's that?"

"Well, dey shouldn't recognise us, should dey?" she said and pulled her hair together in a high pony – tail. She grabbed the scissors again and cut off the hair. It fell into the sink and Taz opened on of Up's drawers and pulled out a red bandana which he had loved to wear before he had left.

"Let's go, mi amigo," she said, grabbing Krayonder's hand and dragging him out of the room towards the drop pod that was going to take them to Pigfarts.

I guess it's not good, but I've written most of this at about 2 am. So, please review! Oh and I'm sorry for not putting translation here, but I'm just too lazy.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I'm so sorry for updating the wrong chapter! I uploaded it at about 6 o' clock in the morning, because me and four of my best friends went sailing – well, we ended up going to the cinema and watching 'Snow white and the Huntsman' instead. Which I thought was somehow like Taz and Up's story, but well, anyway thank you so much for telling me, that I uploaded the wrong chapter.

Chapter 16

Song

One of us

(ABBA)

(Well, not actually the song, but this part)

In this old familiar rooms children would play

Now there's only emptiness; nothing to say!

Taz was quite annoyed by Krayonder who had gotten bored and had forced her to play some stupid game in which you had to look at stuff which the other one should guess.

"Taz, it's your turn, man," he said.

Taz looked out of the small window of the drop pod. It was even worse for her now to be in that small box since Up wasn't there to comfort her.

"It's black," Taz said.

"Oh, Taz, I think I FOUND it, man!" Krayonder blurted, "It's the sky, dude, isn't it?"

"Jeah," she replied and rolled her eyes.

"You know, you have to take something else now, man. It's the seventh time that you've taken the sky," he said.

"You know what, Krayonder; let's just stop playing dis estupido game, okay?" Taz asked, as nice as she could mange it.

Krayonder nodded and she closed her eyes, leaning her head against the cold metal wall. Taz's wrist hurt; it had been a stupid idea to cut herself. It wouldn't even help Up if she hurt herself.

She felt like she was about to throw up and suddenly she realised that he had grabbed her hand. Taz thought about pulling hers away, but then she realised that it was okay when someone touched her.

oooOOOooo

The drop – pod finally docked at Pigfarts and the two of them got into their space – suits to get of the pod so that they wouldn't die – because there is no atmosphere on mars.

Taz hated to wear space – suits, because they made it hard for her to move quickly and it was getting hot in them early. Pigfarts did indeed look … strange to say the least.

Krayonder was still holding her hand and Taz was somehow grateful for that.

Pigfarts had once been a big pink bubble was now almost completely destroyed. Smoking piles of metal lay on the ground and also human limbs.

"Let's go in," Taz heard Krayonder's somehow robotic distorted voice.

She was glad that she could turn away her gaze from the bodies in which she feared to see Up.

"Jeah," Taz replied and the two of them walked into the pink bubble which they safely considered to be Pigfarts.

Inside the bubble it didn't look much better, but they found out that they could take of the space – suits, because there was oxygen in the bubble. Taz came to the conclusion that this was the reason why it was a bubble; to keep the oxygen in there.

She heard the 'pew' of zappers, human screams and the sound of the robot's lasers. Maybe there was a chance for Up being alive. Taz took off her space – suit and stormed to the direction from which she heard the noise. She grabbed a zapper which was lying beneath her feet and as Taz entered the hall she saw some rangers.

"SPECS!" she yelled as she recognised her friend.

A tall man with silver hair who she hadn't seen before turned around and looked at her.

UP, was all Taz could think, before she saw him getting hit in the head by one of the robots lasers and dropping to the floor. Specs spun around too as she heard Taz screaming and attacking the robots while yelling, "Jou're gonna die, hijos de puta!"

Krayonder entered the hall too and helped her. Specs looked at her best friend until she nodded her head towards Up. Taz nodded briefly, before she dropped her zapper and bent down besides him.

"Up? Are jou alright?" she asked, softly.

What a stupid question! Of course he's not alright, Taz thought to herself.

Up stirred weakly, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Up, Up, jou need to get up! We need to leave!" she said softly, while putting her hands onto his head and rested it into her lap.

"Up, wake up!" Taz continued and stroke his face; Up was sweating heavily.

She hesitated for a brief moment before she slapped him across the face, hard. Up panted heavily and opened his eyes.

"Taz," he said, barely audible.

"Yes, it's me. Everything's alright," Taz replied, softly.

"Uh, well, actually it's not, man. The robots are sending more of them, dude," Krayonder called over to them. Taz was annoyed that he had heard her.

"We need to get the others," Up said.

"We're all here, Up," she said and Krayonder and Specs nodded in agreement.

"No. I mean the people which are hiding here," he replied.

"Up, no, please, we need to go – now!" Taz replied and grabbed his hands, pulling him to his feet which looked kind of funny, because she was so tiny and he was so big.

"Taz …"

"No, we need to go! We'll send down some rangers to rescue dem and just let's go, por favor, Up!" Taz yelled, her eyes pleading with him while she grabbed his arm and tried to drag him with her.

"What is the difference between us and some other rangers?" Up yelled back to her. "WHY SHOULD WE LEAVE AND SEND SOMEONE ELSE DOWN HERE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ROBOTS?"

"NO, UP DERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US AND SOME OTHER RANGERS!" Taz shrieked and he could see tears glistening in her eyes.

"WHAT IS IT THEN?" Up replied, angrily. He didn't want to be the reason for her to cry, though.

"DE – de robotas took away everyone I ever cared about – I ever loved. And now dey were about to kill jou! I couldn't cope with losing jou – or Specs or even Krayonder," Taz said and suddenly tears were streaming down her face.

"Thanks, man," Krayonder said, gleefully.

"Taz, ya think I could cope with losing you? Of course not! But Taz, there are people who will die! We'll just take them down to earth and go back to the academy right away. How does that sound?" Up replied, softly.

"Still terrible," Taz replied. Her voice came out muffled, for her face being buried into his chest.

Up placed his hands on each of Taz's shoulders, shoved her just as much away that he could look into her eyes.

"Please let's save them," he said and saw Specs and Krayonder nodding in response. They didn't dare to say anything, though, for fearing Taz to get angry at them.

"If dey kill us den I'll kill you," she whispered and Up beamed at her.

Up lead the four of them into a cellar and they saw some people (about five or six) sitting on the floor. One of them got up and rolled towards the five rangers. He got up and placed a hand on his hips.

"All hail lord Voldemort!" he said and as Up saw Taz's confused (well, more annoyed) face he mouthed "he always keeps me calling that" towards her.

"My name is Draco Malfoy. I am a racist. I despite gingers, and mudbloods. I hate Gryffindor – house and my parents –," he began while he kept walking around the rangers. He started to say something about his parents as Taz cut him off: "¡Callate! Shut de hell up!"

Up was confused about how much they looked like each other, well, of course Taz was prettier and everything, but still, the two of them had the same large, brown eyes, the same features and were about the same height.

"Alright people, if you don't go out there and die for something, then I'll kill you for nothing!" he shouted at the guys on the floor which immediately got up, terrified by the man who looked like he was a war – hero already. Well, of course he was, but the citizens of Pigfarts weren't aware of that. Up felt Taz grabbing his hand and looked down at her, she was grinning at him proudly.

"WHAT ARE JOU WAITING FOR, IDIOTAS? LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" she yelled and everyone tried to leave the cellar as fast as possible.

Taz turned towards Up, grinning smugly. "Dey are more terrified by me dan by jou," she said, stuck out her tongue in a very childish way and walked of the hall, dragging him with her.

Up chuckled slightly and followed her to the others.

"So, uh, commander, I don't really think that all these people will fit into the drop – pod," Specs stated, matter – of – factly.

"They have to," Up replied immediately. He had seen Taz's angry glare, of course she would be angry if they would lose even more time because the fucking drop – pod was too small.

He shoved everyone into the small pod until he grabbed Taz's hand and sat down at a wall. Up watched her resting her head against his shoulder; he hadn't forgotten that she hated to be in the drop – pod.

"Now jou do really look like dat Scar from de movie we'd watched," Taz said, kissing the scar across his eye.

"Tanks, Tazzie," Up replied, grinning widely, put his hands around her face and rubbed his nose against hers.

"Is that your girlfriend, Voldemort?" this Draco – guy asked as he bent down next to the two of them.

Up groaned while Taz got up and shoved him to the ground. Draco got up, made a very girly twirl and said: "You are NOT permitted to TOUCH!"

Up laughed as he recognised the line Taz had once used; maybe her and that Draco weren't that different after all.

oooOOOooo

The drop – pod finally arrived at earth and Up hold back Taz to wait before everyone else had left it, until he helped her to get up and the two of them walked out of the drop – pod.

"Where – where are we?" she asked, immediately recognising the familiar place.

"Wait a second, Taz, will ya? Alright, guys, we brought you back to earth and now it's up to ya to do whatever ya want, except of following us around!" he told the others and most of them did indeed walk away. One of them pulled Draco with them, because he had decided to stay with Up.

"Up, where are we?" Taz repeated her question.

"Uh … I think ya right," he said even though Taz hadn't even said what she thought, but he knew what she meant. They were at Spain.

"Jou cabron! How dare jou taking us here?" she yelled and began to punch him.

"Taz, Taz, stop that! I didn't bring us here!" Up replied, grabbing her wrists and stroking her tiny fingers with his until Taz had calmed down. He let go of her, eventually, but she kept holding his hands.

Taz had accepted quite a few things in her life. For example that she would never become any taller than fife feet and that she would never see her home – town again. But that wasn't true anymore. Well, the thing with never seeing her home – town again, not the one with her height. Taz looked around and recognised the place immediately.

"Tessa! Tessa! Get the hell out of here!" her mamà yelled in Spanish. Taz groaned and moved her gaze from the mirror. She had been looking at herself, desperately. Taz hated the way her long raven hair was tied up in a tight bun which looked annoyingly like a ballerina – she had been taking ballet – lessons for half her life and she had always hated it. And she also hated the way how innocent her eyes looked with the mascara and the bit of eyeliner her mamà had forced her to apply. But most of all Taz hated the dress. It was all puffy and pink and made her look even tinier than she usually did.

"Yes, I'm coming, mamà," Taz replied, eventually.

She left her room which was rather difficult for the damn stilettos she was forced to wear to match her dress. Her mamà grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the house into the garden and towards the small chapel in which her birthday should be set.

"Hey, uhm, Taz?" she heard her best friend Carlos say.

Taz turned around and her mamà gave her a wry grin before she said something about her waiting for Taz inside the chapel.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Taz replied.

"I just wondered: who are you going to dance with?"

"Uh … I don't know. Why?"

"Youwannadancewithme?" Carlos said as fast as if he was afraid that he wouldn't dare to say it if he waited for too long.

"Uh -," Taz said, but was cut off by Carlos's lips on hers.

She responded immediately by slamming her fist onto his nose. Carlos winced and put his hands onto his bleeding nose while Taz stepped into the chapel.

The ceremony was kind of boring and so she let her mind wander. In only three years from now she would be able to join the G.L.E.E.'s academy and become a Starship ranger.

But suddenly a loud BANG interrupted her thoughts and the party guests looked up startled.

Robots, was the first thing that Taz thought as she shield her eyes from the bright light to see better. Suddenly she felt someone – or something grabbing her ankle and dragging her upside down out of the chapel.

"NO!" Taz yelled as she realised that there were other robots which were shooting down her family.

But suddenly she was hanging upside down from a tree; a tree in which she had spent half her childhood. And suddenly Taz felt a huge pain in her stomach and realised that she was bleeding.

And Up remembered the place where he'd seen Taz for the first time, too.

Up was angry at the robots for attacking these poor people at a girl's birthday party. She was probably dead now with all these guys on the floor. No – one, absolutely no – one had survived. He swallowed down a huge pain in his throat and turned to leave. But suddenly Up heard the mechanical laugh of a robot and a weak, but angry voice yelling: "Tingate, hijos de puta!" he turned around and saw a tiny girl tied upside down a tree. She was bleeding heavily, tears were streaming down her face, but she was still struggling to escape. The robot hit her again and she coughed some blood; that was the moment when he realised that this tiny, brave and most of all young girl was going to die. Up didn't think twice, but grabbed his zapper and began to shoot at the robots widely. One was already laying on the floor and he wondered if the girl had managed that. Up shot at the robot which was holding the girl, which had probably been a stupid idea because it went limb and the girl fell onto the ground. She hit her head and started to bleed even more. Up hurried towards her and helped her to get up. Well, he lifted her up into his arms for her looking quite dead already. Up didn't want her to be dead, though he had no idea why he thought so. But to his relief he felt her breathing softly against his neck and saw her opening her eyes. But unfortunately just in time to see the corpse of her mum – well, Up considered her to be the girls mum, because the two of them looked so similar. He tried to move his body in between the girl's gaze and the dead woman.

"Up?" he heard a voice which was not Taz's.

"What?" Up turned around to look at this Specs – girl. She had never called him 'Up' before.

"Taz," Krayonder replied and Up was about to hit him, as he realised that Taz was gone.

He saw her standing next to a tree which he recognised immediately. Up walked towards her and took her hands. Taz felt tears burning behind her eyes; she didn't want to cry in front of the others, but she somehow couldn't hold them back. She somehow expected Up to walk away for she hadn't seen him in such a long time. But he just kept holding her hands and allowed her to rest her head against his chest and went on crying there.

Up rested one hand loosely on the back of her head and lifted Taz's chin with two of his fingers, eventually, so that she had to look at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, softly and wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"How could I be, Up?" Taz replied, reached out one hand and stroke his moustache.

For no particular reason she loved to touch it.

"When are we going to go back home?" Taz said, softly an Up looked at her surprised that she considered the academy to be her home, even though they were back at the village in which she had been born and raised.

"As soon as they send down a rocketship to take us back to the academy," he replied.

Taz nodded firmly, turned around and walked away. It took Up a few moments in which he was just staring at her tiny frame until he could bring himself to ask: "Where ya goin?"

"I just want to see my old house," she replied, softly and walked along the way she used to know so well.

Taz didn't even care if Up followed her or not. Maybe she didn't even want him to, Up thought, but he decided to follow her, eventually. She would probably need someone to comfort her.

Taz stepped into a small white house which looked really grungy. She reached out one hand for Up to take it – so she did know that he was right behind her. He took it and allowed Taz to drag him through a small floor until the two of them reached a white door on which in big, coloured letters was standing 'Taz'. Up wasn't quite sure if he wanted to go in there – it was really private, wasn't it? –, but Taz didn't let go of his hand as she opened the door. Her grip even tightened. Taz's room was pretty small and it did only include the mainly things (a bed, a desk and a dresser), but it seemed to fit with her quite well. Taz wasn't one to spend time with her appearance and neither did she with her room. Up caught sight of a small picture frame. In that picture Taz was standing next to a woman who was her mum; of course Up did remember the look on Taz's face as they had seen her mum's corpse. The two of them had their arms wrapped around each other and she was laughing – and I mean really laughing, without any anger and sadness. She looked so happy that it did physically hurt him to see that.

"I was thirteen den," Taz said as she noticed Up staring at the picture. Her voice was trembling and she refused to look at him.

Up took the picture and put it into his pocket without asking Taz for permission. Then he turned back towards her. She was holding a pillow shaped like a unicorn in her hands and seemed to be crying again.

"A unicorn? Seriously?" Up asked and couldn't hold back a slight chuckle as he bent down and pulled Taz into his lap. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and kept on crying. Up rubbed her back calmingly; he knew exactly how she felt right now and wished that someone had been there for him to comfort him, too. But, he was glad that he could be there for Taz right now. Up wished he could tell her that everything was going to be alright, but that was a lie.

It was never going to be alright again.

After what seemed like ages Taz had finally calmed down enough to say: "I loved unicorns once"

Up chuckled slightly again and replied: "And? Do you still love them?"

Taz didn't respond, but didn't let go of the unicorn – pillow as she got up, eventually so he took it as a yes. She lead Up into the small garden and grabbed his wrists.

"Don't ever tell anyone about that unicorn, jou know?" Taz said, dangerously, her eyes narrowed.

Up nudged her playfully and she punched him in the stomach.

"¿Quièn es?" an old male voice asked.

Up could see Taz pale. That was another thing that she had accepted; that she was never going to see her father again. Well, Taz had trusted Up to find him, but she had never allowed herself to have any hopes in finding him. But, well, that seemed to have changed, too.

Up grabbed her hand and dragged her closer towards him. Taz didn't respond only that she leaned a little into him.

"Who is there?" a voice asked in Spanish and she knew immediately that it was her father. Up's hands moved from hers to each of Taz's shoulders which was for no particular reason really calming. Well, that didn't mean anything for his presence being always calming for her. Up squeezed her shoulders gently to show her that she should reply or do something else – anything else than just standing there and do nothing.

"Papà?" Taz called out softly which she found really pathetic – of course it was her papà.

A man with long grey hair, a somewhat grey skin, black rotten teeth and pale eyes came into her view. Taz hadn't seen him in a long time, and she couldn't quite remember what he did look like, but she could remember that her papà once had smooth black hair, olive skin and looked pretty much like her, just that Taz's features were softer – which she hated – and he had small, sharp eyes which she wanted to have too. Yes, she hated her damned puppy – dog – eyes, for crying out loud! And one thing Taz did also remember was that he had never looked so … broken.

"Tessa? Is it really you?" he asked and she couldn't help but feel pleasant to finally hear someone talking in Spanish.

"Si. Si, papà, it's me," Taz replied and struggled to hold back her tears in which she was really good by now. She wondered if her papà wanted to hug her, but she was glad that he didn't.

"I – I thought you'd died at your Quincheanera, like mamà and Pietro," he said and Taz felt herself tensing up.

Up realised that too, though he hadn't understood one single word, but his grip became firmly. He bent down and whispered "It's alright. Just relax, Taz, okay?" into Taz's ear.

She couldn't help but feel chills going down her spine as his breath tickled her ear. Taz finally gathered up enough senses to nod her head sternly and turn back to her papà. "Well, no, I didn't"

She had wanted to find her dad her whole life, but somehow it didn't feel right to see him standing in front of her now. Up's fingers entangled in Taz's hair and he stroked the side of her neck; she knew that he was waiting for her to say something, but instead of doing so Taz turned her head to look at him.

"What is it?" Up asked, concerned.

"I want him to go away. I don't want him to be here," she replied.

Up smiled at her fondly and said: "Give him a chance, Taz. Just give him a chance, ya know?"

Taz reached out one hand to touch his face, then nodded.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, harsher than she had wanted to.

"I'm living here," her papà replied.

And that was when Taz got angry. "THE ROBOT WARS AREN'T OVER! WHY DID YOU STOP FIGHTING?" she yelled.

"They allowed me to stop if –," he cut himself of and stared at the floor, uncomfortably.

Up watched Taz and her dad having a conversation even though he couldn't understand any single word, but he knew that she was angry … and sad – no desperate.

"Taz, calm down," Up said, softly.

"Jou know what, Up? No. No, I won't calm down! And jou know why? Because he is just a pathetic, cowardly -," Taz was about to continue her angry speech, but she was silenced by Up's hand being placed over her mouth.

He grabbed her arm with his other hand and turned her so that she had to look at him. She was staring fiercely at Up and he said angrily: "Taz, he's ya dad, no matter how pathetic or whatever he is, okay! Just don't always get angry that soon!"

Suddenly a bright grin broadened on Taz's face.

"What?" he growled and frowned at her.

"Jou tellin' me about not getting angry while jou're jelling at me," she replied, still smiling widely.

Up cracked a grin at her, eventually, but said: "Give him a chance, Taz"

Taz looked at her best friend, her guardian, her … love and decided to give her papà a chance; for Up's sake.

Because she would do everything for him, just like he would do everything for her.

Please review! I don't know when I'm going to update the next time because I have to study maths because I failed my maths exam and I have to get better grades and I'm going on a holiday in Italy next week. Well, I know this isn't interesting, but I just wanted to tell you. Oh and just imagine Taz and her dad talking in Spanish because I was too lazy to translate it.


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